Winter Weekend Auction Totals Double Previous Record

ATLANTA, GA....This year's Carter Center auction in Crested Butte, Colo., raised $1.28 million, more than doubling last year's proceeds. The auction benefits The Carter Center, a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization striving to advance democracy and prevent disease founded in 1982 by Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.

The auction was the highlight of the Carter Center's 9th annual Winter Weekend February 7-11. Another auction record was set this year-the highest bid of $310,000 for a photograph of Presidents Carter, Bush, Reagan, Ford, and Nixon and signed by each of them.

"Rosalynn and I are pleased that so many supporters of The Carter Center showed their support for our efforts," President Carter said. "The auction helps us continue The Carter Center's work around the world to preserve peace, resolve conflict, and fight disease. We couldn't do it without these and other partners."

President Carter's hand-crafted items, made in his workshop in Plains, Ga., collectively brought in $301,000. His wall-mounted cabinet sold for $200,000, a mallard duck decoy for $85,000, and three walnut candlesticks for $16,000. He also donated two bottles of homemade wine that raised $16,500, and a quail-hunting trip in southern Georgia with him raised $85,000.

In addition, a Guinea worm wall hanging, made from fabric used in clothing by Carter Center staff working to eliminate Guinea worm disease in Africa, brought $47,000. The quilted panels depict Africans filtering water through cloth, which eliminates the Guinea worm larvae and prevents the debilitating disease.

Two books authored and signed by former Russia President Mikhail Gorbachev sold for $38,000, and a chair carved from ziracote wood by furniture maker Sam Maloof, whose work is in the White House and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, raised $95,000.

Another highlight of the Weekend was 10 Atlanta teenagers from FutureForce accompanying the Carters and their guests. FutureForce is a leadership program for at-risk youth. The teenagers, some of whom enjoyed their first plane ride, learned to ski and mingled with some of Atlanta's top executives. They also performed a skit, depicting a talk show featuring "guests" who had risen from poverty and adversity to the top of performing arts.

The Carter Center would like to extend its thanks to sponsors that made this year's Winter Weekend so successful: Delta Air Lines, The Coca-Cola Company, United Parcel Service, Club Med Crested Butte, Georgia Crown Distributing Company, AAA Auto Club South, Environmental Resources Management, and SAAB Cars USA.