PORT ANGELES — St. Andrew’s Place wants to toast the elders at the third annual Oktoberfest celebration Saturday.

The event has developed into the Port Angeles nonprofit assisted living community’s biggest fundraiser of the year, said Michele Jensen, administrator of the organization.

Those bearing tickets — which are $30 in advance and $35 at the door — will partake of a German buffet and three beers.

“Raising funds is a necessity for us,” said Beverly Maine, St. Andrew’s CEO.

“What better way to do that than with brats and beers?”

It will run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday at the Masonic Temple, 622 S. Lincoln St., Port Angeles.

A live and silent auction will be held at the event, with items donated from Chestnut Cottage Restaurant, The Bushwacker, Gateway Therapeutic Massage & Steam Room, Sunny Farms, Olympic Lodge and other businesses, she said.

The idea was the result of several years of brainstorming for a fundraiser unlike any other held on the North Olympic Peninsula, Maine said.

Fundraising has become a way of life for the nonprofit at 520 E Park Ave, which always works with clients, regardless of their financial status, Jensen said.

More than 60 percent of its present clients are low-income.

“We are the only nonprofit taking Medicaid right now,” Jensen said.

“And if people run out of money we don’t ask them to leave or anything.”

In some cases, Medicaid reimburses between $10 and $30 per day, Maine said.

“We do fundraising all the time,” Jensen said.

“We just had a garage sale and we get donations all the time.

“We are constantly doing bake sales and more.”

The organization also is collecting change to raise money to buy a new television for the residents.

“The most important thing to us is to emphasize that this is their home,” Maine said.

“It isn’t an institution. It has a heart, and it is a home.”

For tickets, more information or to donate to the silent auction, phone 360-417-3418.

__________

Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.