Rainbow of Hope Benefit Auction returns to Mt. Hope for local children

The Rainbow of Hope Benefit Auction will bring dinner, bidding and volleyball back to the Mt. Hope Event Center on July 24-25, with the Friday auction set for 5 p.m. and the goal of helping local children whose medical bills strain family budgets.

Mt. Hope Event Center lists the Rainbow of Hope - Benefit Auction and Dinner from July 24 at 3:30 p.m. through July 25 at 4:30 p.m. Friday’s schedule includes carry-out dinner and benefit dinner beginning at 4:00 p.m., along with fish fry, BBQ chicken, food and volleyball before the auction starts at 5:00 p.m. The event will take place at 8076 SR 241 in Millersburg, and Mt. Hope Auction lists 330-674-6188 for questions.

The auction’s mission is tightly focused. Amish Gateway says the annual non-profit benefit auction exists to provide financial assistance to area residents who are unable to pay health costs tied to catastrophic illnesses affecting infants and children. Its funding comes from donations, individuals, businesses and churches, which makes turnout and giving central to the event’s impact.

That local support matters because the costs families face often go beyond a single hospital bill. In Holmes County, the Holmes County General Health District’s Complex Medical Help program, formerly the Bureau for Children with Medical Handicaps, links families of children with special healthcare needs to medical providers and helps pay for medical care their children need. The county also has other supports for children with health and developmental needs, including Help Me Grow and the Holmes County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

Mt. Hope is a natural fit for that kind of fundraiser. The village sits at the center of a county where church communities, farms and family businesses routinely turn out when a neighbor needs help, and the Rainbow of Hope sale channels that habit into a specific cause with measurable results. A related Mt. Hope Auction event page is titled Ohio Crippled Children’s Fund Auction, underscoring how closely the local auction tradition has been tied to helping children with serious medical needs.

For residents who want to help this summer, the route is direct: show up for the dinner, bid at the auction, or support the donation side that keeps the event moving. In a county that still organizes around its own, the money raised in Mt. Hope can turn a night of food and bidding into help for medical care families cannot cover on their own.