PENDLETON — The Pendleton Center for the Arts biennial Gala Auction, “hit the goal right on,” said Roberta Lavadour, executive director of the center. The Nov. 5 fundraiser featured many items for bidding, including original donated art and gift certificates from local businesses.

“It went great, it really did. It was a wonderful evening from a staff perspective things were great,” she said. “We’re always so humbled, and not surprised, but we never take it for granted that people donate items and things like that. It’s always so gratifying how generous people in the community are and how much they want to support the arts center. We had several people who brought us things that we hadn’t asked for because they wanted to support the cause.”

Events such as the auction are crucial to breaking up the grind of everyday fundraising, Lavadour said, and allows the arts center to express itself and its offerings naturally.

“One of the things that the Gala does is it makes it fun, but also it is so essential for nonprofits to demonstrate that the community is supportive so that when we go to Ford Family Foundation, Oregon Community Foundation or the state of Oregon and ask for money,” she said. “The first thing they ask is ‘What are people locally doing? What do you have to match this?’ Matching funds are really important. One of the things that happens is a lot of grant funds are very specific in what you can use the money for, and a lot of times it’s limited. The money we raise that is unrestricted in events like this is so important.”

The highlight of this year’s event, Lavadour said, was returning chef Mireya Gavia de Wolf, who prepared multiple courses of meals for attendees, and donated a dinner at her home for auction, which sold for more than $1,200.

“I think it was a wonderful evening, some of the high points were Mireya Gavia de Wolf and her cooking crew. They spent eight hours down at the city kitchen preparing authentic Mexican food,” Lavadour said. “We built the event around her. She was born and raised in Guanajuato, one of the most beautiful cities in Mexico. She grew up with her mother and grandmother preparing traditional Mexican food. They all dressed up, and everyone looked great.”

Wolf, originally from Guanajuato, Mexico, has been in the United States with her husband for 28 years, but her mother’s recipes are always fresh in her mind.

“I learned to cook by watching my mom, I don’t have a recipe book,” Wolf said as she energetically buzzed around her home’s kitchen Tuesday, Nov. 22, stirring and seasoning as she went. “My recipe book is in my mind. I only have two recipes that my mom wrote for me, but that’s how I learned.”

Wolf, an instructional assistant at the Pendleton Early Learning Center, seeks to support the arts in any way she can, whether in the form of cooking for the Pendleton Center for the Arts, painting snapshots of Guanajuato streets or supporting the Oregon East Symphony. But an event such as the Gala Auction requires a lot of work and help along the way, she said.

“The Gala Auction, it’s a long process,” she said. “We start brainstorming the menu in advance, I think I changed the menu four times because I couldn’t decide what to cook. My mom’s recipes, they’re all very good. It takes a long time, people don’t realize how it’s a long process. It’s a lot of work, 25-30 hours for cooking and prep and everything.”

Wolf singled out Rocio Lopez Candelario, one of the volunteers that helped prepare the Gala Auction dinner, as having been an exceptional help to her efforts.

“Rocio Lopez Candelario, she’s one of the best. She’s like, ‘You need me? I’m there, let me know if you need help.’” Wolf said. “My husband and Rocio were in charge of serving and presenting the food so I could enjoy the event after cooking.”

With the Gala Auction behind her, Wolf said she is looking forward to hosting the dinner she auctioned off at her home, excited to add a special new twist to her traditional Mexican cuisine.

“When they were bidding for my dinner, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, what am I going to cook? What am I going to cook?’ It’s so much money, but it’s for a good cause,” Wolf said.

She’s settled on a Basque and Mexican fusion, which reflects her heritage as well as part of her husband’s.