Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Boys & Girls Club Takes in $150,000 : Youth: Organizers believe the earthquake may have boosted donations to highest level in four years.

Despite complications due to the January earthquake, a fund-raiser for the Santa Clarita Valley Boys & Girls Club raised $150,000, the highest total in four years, according to club officials.

“The community really came out in support of us,” said Jim Ventress, executive director of the club. “I think our volunteers dug a bit deeper this year.”

The 23rd annual auction was held June 11, with top bids going for donated automobiles--$22,000 for a 1994 Ford Explorer and $18,500 for a 1967 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow with 87,000 miles on the odometer.

More than 700 items were offered at the auction, ranging from autographed baseball equipment to dinner coupons to vacation travel packages.

The Boys & Girls Club serves about 1,300 youths in the Santa Clarita Valley. The club operates a popular youth center in the Newhall community equipped with pool tables, Ping Pong tables and video games.

About half of the organization’s income is generated by the fund-raiser. Although the event made more than $200,000 annually during the late 1980s, tougher economic times cut that nearly in half in recent years.

This year, organizers wanted to top the club’s 1993 auction take of $120,000, but were skeptical after the Northridge earthquake struck.

The youth center served as an American Red Cross emergency shelter for about a month after the temblor, and preparations for the fund-raiser were delayed for at least that long.

“When we met right after the earthquake, we decided we could do it or postpone it,” said Bruce McFarland, the auction’s publicity coordinator. “A lot of other people postponed their events.”

Ventress believes the temblor may have boosted donations by reminding community members where their priorities are: with children.

The last club auction that generated more than $150,000 took place in 1990.