By: Seth Johnson
For the last several years, Indiana-themed shop A Taste of Indiana has played a vital role in helping to prepare the ornate gift baskets used to display items in IBCF’s Through the Looking Glass Gala Silent Auction.
Celebrating their 40th anniversary in September 2024, A Taste of Indiana specializes in putting together Indiana-themed gift baskets, carrying a myriad of Indiana products from snacks to souvenirs.
“We buy from 178 Indiana companies, from DeBrand Fine Chocolates in Fort Wayne to Tell City Pretzels down in Jasper,” says store owner Mark Kolbus. “We just scour the state and try to find things that work well with our gift baskets at a reasonable cost to our customers.”
According to Kolbus, IBCF executive director Laura Alvarado first connected with the store while visiting A Taste of Indiana as a customer.
“Laura came into our store and was just checking us out and buying gifts for a family member,” Kolbus says. “We started talking, and she told me she was the director of the Indiana Blind Children’s Foundation. They had their fundraiser coming up. I just said, ‘Bring yourself in here, and we’ll put it together for you.’”
Thanks to the generosity of Kolbus and his employees, IBCF can now prepare the Silent Auction baskets in a timely manner.
“Laura said that before she met us it would take her all week long to put the baskets together,” Kolbus says. “But with our staff and what we do at our store, it just takes about three hours. We can get ‘em in and out and back on the road to the Blind School.”
In reflecting on what he enjoys most about helping IBCF prepare their Silent Auction baskets each year, Kolbus says it’s all about the end result.
“It’s rewarding to see all the stuff going on that we’ve helped out with and other people have benefited from,” Kolbus says.
Learn more about A Taste of Indiana via their website and be sure to stay tuned to IBCF’s email newsletter for more information on this year’s Silent Auction packages.
