The Casino Building on the campus of Georgian Court University, Lakewood, was bustling with browsers the evening of April 10 as more than 450 folks came out for the 16th annual gift auction to benefit Providence House Domestic Violence Services in Ocean County.

According to Mary Pettrow, the event raised $55,000 and proceeds will be given to support the arm of Catholic Charities that provides assistance and shelter to domestic violence victims and their children residing in Ocean County.

“Funds raised will go toward the many components of our program including staffing, overhead costs for our safe house and outreach, household and office supplies,” said Pettrow, associate director of Providence House Domestic Violence Services.

Highlights of the evening included the presence of various groups who either participated or served as volunteers throughout the evening, including more than 20 Ocean County Police Academy recruits, more than 20 staff members from Investor’s Bank, one of the event sponsors; students and student athletes from Georgian Court, and more than 30 Providence House volunteers.

Pettrow extended appreciation to Georgian Court University for allowing Providence House to host the gift auction in the Casino Building, but noted that the space prompted organizers to reducing its guest capacity list by more than 300 people.

“Tickets sold out in two days and the night of the event we had more than 200 people on our waiting list hoping to get a ticket,” she said. However, even with the reduced number of guests, “we had a tremendously successful event and we are extremely grateful for all those who supported us with donations of gifts and their time as well as our event sponsors.”

In 2015, Pettrow said that Providence House in Ocean County accommodated 95 women and 118 children in the emergency safe house and nearly 1,000 more individuals received services in the outreach counseling center. The agency’s telephone hotline received 1,985 calls and volunteers gave 3,724 hours of service.