A night of fun, glamour and purses for a good cause is what attendees can expect at Thursday’s Power of the Purse – Totes & Toast: Cheers to 16 Years. Held at Midnight Garden, the event is a fundraiser for the Marshalltown Area United Way, which supports 30 essential programs run by its partner agencies, together serving more than 15,000 individuals across Marshall County.

Doors open at 4 p.m. for a social hour, which also provides the opportunity to scope out auction items. A plated dinner (new this year) will be served from 5 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., consisting of a stuffed chicken breast (with a vegetarian option available), rosemary potatoes, honey-glazed carrots and a salad.

New this year are desserts made by MHS Bobcat Café students.

On the VIP tables will be an extra special sweet treat provided by Aimee Deimerly-Snyder, owner of Lillie Mae Chocolates. Emcee for the evening will be Kyle Martin with KFJB Radio.

Opening remarks and thank yous will begin at 6:15 p.m., followed by the live auction starting at 6:30 p.m. Silent auctions items, viewable online, will span 4 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. There are 43 live auction items and 61 silent auction ones. Events & Marketing Manager Rachel Norton noted that pieces in the auctions were donated by individuals, businesses and/or partnering agencies.

“It is all online, and so even if you’re not able to be at the event, if you purchase a ticket, you can still have access to the silent auction,” Norton said. “We do have a few people who purchased tickets knowing they can’t come, but they want to be able to bid on silent auction items. A couple of them are outside the US.”

Participants will be able to bid on and view the silent auction items from anywhere in the world, via an app called Givi through Qgiv/Bloomerang. It saves people from having to track bids via a sheet of paper.

United Way Executive Director Kendra Sorensen said a fundraiser of this size takes the whole community to pull off.

“You essentially see that with all the sponsorship and all the donations. Our community is just fantastic when it comes to supporting us in general, our general campaign, but outside of that, just making our events a really great experience,” Sorensen said.

Most of the purses in the auction are designer label and will be shown off by purse models.

“Yes there are a lot of purses, but there’s a lot of other things too,” she added.

Auction packages include experiences such as trips, personal shopping, murder mysteries, hot air balloon rides, plus one “everything Marshalltown,” which will have 10-12 gift cards to local businesses.

Sorensen said United Way wants to extend its thanks to the following sponsors: Platinum Sponsor: GNB Bank; Gold Sponsors: Kris Gilchrist-Dull, ServiceMaster of Marshalltown, and Hellberg’s Jewelers; Champagne Sponsor: Guadalupe Gomez with RE/MAX Precision. The door prize sponsors are Pinnacle Bank and JBI Properties, with print sponsor being Minuteman Inc who printed the event’s programs and the purse tags. The 2025-2026 United Way Co-Chairs are Robert Maharry & Maria Gonzalez-Alvarez.

Individual tickets cost $70 (no assigned seating) or a VIP table of eight for $700. There are no paper tickets this year, only digital. Tickets may be purchased in advance and donations accepted here: www.unitedwaymarshalltown.org/2025-power-purse and the night of the event.

Last year’s Power of the Purse raised $50,126. The goal this year is to bring in $66,000 and have 300 attendees. For more information, Norton may be reached at: marcom@unitedwaymarshalltown.org.