Marquette County fair auction participant donates thousands to cancer organization

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - A teenager auctioning her cow at the Marquette County fair raised around $6,000 for a local organization that helps cancer patients last weekend, The Marquette County Fair said in a Facebook Post.

Olivia Zuehls wrote the story of her fundraising to narrate what was an “emotional” day.

Zuels said she had planned to donate 25% of the proceeds from the auction to Budda Box, an organization that offers Marquette County residents with cancer financial and emotional support, to honor her own grandfather who passed away from cancer earlier this year.

The teen announced her plans to donate the money and as the bidding went from $10/pound all the way to $20/pound Olivia said the waterworks hit.

“It made me so emotional because I was doing this for Grandpa,” Zuehls said, but her gesture touched others in the audience as well. “When they finally closed the bid at $20.25/pound as I was looking in the crowd I don’t know if I saw one person that wasn’t teary eyed.”

She said she tried to thank as many people as possible before the event was over, and former cancer patients thanked her as well.

“You have no idea how much this means to me,” Zuels recalled saying. She said if anyone takes something away from her story it is to “do some good in this world.”

Zuels said the remainder of the money was put away for when she goes to college.