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Twentynine Palms, California
Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command and Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center
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A guest at the Havana Nights Gala & Benefit Auction makes a bid before the auction at Smith’s Ranch in Twentynine Palms, Calif., March 24, 2018. Havana Nights is an annual benefit auction hosted by the Officers’ Spouses’ Club to raise money for their Scholarship Grant Program, which provides community members with grants to continue their education. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Preston L. Morris)

Photo by Lance Cpl. Preston Morris

Officers' Spouses' Club hosts Havana Nights

24 Mar 2018 | Lance Cpl. Preston Morris Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms

The Officers' Spouses’ Club, an institution established aboard the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in the 1950s, hosted their annual Havana Nights Gala & Benefit Auction at Smith’s Ranch, March 24, 2018.

The Havana Nights gala is one of the premier events of the year, and through the proceeds made in the auctioning portion of the night, thousands of dollars were raised for the club’s Scholarship Grants program, which raises money to help local community members continue their education. Between the club and the community, people from all over the Morongo Basin and even down in the Coachella Valley come together to make this event happen. Merchandise, tickets, antiques, and bouquets of treats and necessities valued at thousands of dollars were donated to the club to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, with all proceeds going to the scholarship fund.

“I’d just like to thank everyone who attended the event,” said Heather Miner, president, OSC. “There’s been a lot of work done to make this happen by a lot of people. The committee to put it together has done a fantastic job.”

Among the committee is Bistro 29, a local restaurant that provided the catering for the event, and Gary Daigneault, the “Voice of the Morongo Basin” and news director for Z107.7 FM. Daigneault also provided his services as the auctioneer for the gala event.

In the past five years, the annual gala has raised $131,000 for their scholarship fund. The gala this year raised $19,820. “This is an essential part of our scholarship program,” said Danica Barrick, 1st vice president and scholarship chair, OSC. “Without the gala and the hard work that everyone from the Combat Center and the community put into it, the Scholarship Grant program would not be near as successful as it is.”

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