The 2015 Lyle Area Cancer Auction has set the bar even higher.

LAC leaders announced a new record 2015 total of $230,000 at an appreciation dinner Sunday. LAC initially pledged a record $215,000 to the Eagles Fifth District Cancer Telethon in Rochester on Jan. 18, but cash donations kept coming in after the auction was held Jan. 16 and 17.

“‘Awesome’ is the only adjective that comes to mind,” volunteer Gary Ziegler said, quoting one of the themes of this year’s auction.

Money typically keeps coming in after the auction, but it’s usually only $3,000 to $4,000 — not $15,000 like this year, according to Ziegler.

“It was unbelievable this last month,” he said.

The news is icing on the cake after a big year for the auction. Along with surpassing the previous yearly record of $200,000, Lyle Area Cancer also surpassed $2 million raised in 36 years.

Overall, the auction has raised just under $2.2 million since 1980.

Along with the overall record, several Lyle Area Cancer events and drives set records this year, including the auction, Braunschweiger Wednesdays, Farmboy Barbecue, Half Way to January Cancer Bash, the Harley Davidson raffle, the kitchen at the auction, cash donations, Quilting for a Cure, Spinning for a Cure, and Thrivent Financial for Lutheran’s Red, White, & Pink and Oktoberfest drives, according to co-chair Teresa Slowinski.

“I am speechless,” she wrote in an email to the Herald. “I see these numbers all year long every year and I still can’t believe it. I wear my adding machine out re-adding everything, because when I see the total I think, ‘I must have made a mistake somewhere or forgot something,’ but no; it’s there and accurate.”

Slowinski thanked everyone who participated, volunteered and attended LAC events.

“As the word of the day says, it’s ‘awesome,’ and on behalf of the LAC I would like to say the second words of the day: ‘thank-you’ to everyone,” she wrote.

Spin for a Cure pedals toward ‘16

Lyle Area Cancer volunteers won’t have long to savor the record $230,000 raised at the 2015 auction.

That’s because events are already kicking off to raise money for the 2016 auction. Spin for a Cure, which pledged a record $13,206 at last month’s auction, will be held this weekend at SASS gym at 227 W. Fourth St. in St. Ansgar, Iowa.

Spin for a Cure, which started in 2012, features hundreds of people riding indoor exercises bikes for several hours and pledging $20 per hour of cycling.

Events kick off at 8 a.m. Friday and continue through Saturday evening. Along with spin time, there will also be yoga and kids rides.

For more, visit stansgarsass.com/announcements-and-news.html