The silver lining to an auction benefitting the Boys & Girls Club of Oak Harbor last March has arrived in time for the start of the school year.

The acquisition of a silver 2013 12-passenger Ford van for about $25,000 gives the Boys & Girls Club a second van, which allows the club to pick up children faster and add Crescent Harbor Elementary School to its pickup list.

With one van, the organization was only able to pick up kids at Oak Harbor, Hillcrest and Broad View elementary schools.

“This is going to help us tremendously,” said Nikki Barone, unit director at the Oak Harbor club. “We did not have enough time to to go Crescent Harbor and come back into town and get everybody. Some people were already waiting 20 minutes with just the three schools in town.”

A successful “Bids for Kids Dinner & Auction” at the Roller Barn in March raised $78,000 for the Boys & Girls Club with Island Thrift agreeing to match $30,000.

Of that total, $11,000 was raised specifically as part of a fund-a-need effort to purchase the new van.

A donation of more than $3,000 from Les Schwab Tire Center in January had reduced the amount needed to $11,000.

“It’s been on the wish list for more than a year,” said Duncan Chalfant, who’s on the board of the Boys & Girls Club.

“Once we got our first van and realized what a success it was, we realized we would like another van.”