The trickle-down effect of the Seattle Seahawks winning the Super Bowl is being felt at the Boys & Girls Club of Oak Harbor.

A bidder paid $5,000 to secure the football that Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson signed and wrote a personal message for the “Bids for Kids Dinner & Auction”  Saturday night at the Roller Barn in Oak Harbor.

Oak Harbor-based concrete contractor LangCo Northwest made the winning bid, which was believed to be the largest for a single item in the fundraising event’s 15-year history, according to board member Duncant Chalfant.

“I was very pleasantly surprised. I knew it’d go pretty well,” Chalfant said. “I was thinking a couple thousand, maybe $2,500. It kept going up and up. Everybody was cheering and standing up. It got a standing ovation at the end.”

Oak Harbor resident Greg Goebel met Wilson while sitting next to him on a flight to Newark, N.J., last month. Goebel donated the item to the auction after Wilson agreed to sign a ball for the charitable event.

Wilson autographed the ball and added a message, “To the Oak Harbor 12th man.”

Chalfant said the Boys & Girls Club will be sending a thank-you letter to Wilson, along with a photo from Saturday night’s event.

The “Bids for Kids” event raised $78,000 for the Boys & Girls Club, and Island Thrift has agreed to match $30,000.

The organization sets a goal to raise $100,000 during its biggest annual fundraiser.

The Boys & Girls Club was able to raise $11,000 toward the purchase of a new van, which will give the club a second van to pick up children. That was part of a fund-a-need effort with guests donating to a specific cause.

“Our current van transports 80 kids a day,” Chalfant said. “It goes to four different schools. We have a waiting list. We have more kids who’d like to come but we don’t have another vehicle.”

That will change soon.