The 13th annual birdhouse auction is a fundraiser for Project Return, a transitional home in Westport for troubled teenage girls since 1986.
“The Art of the Birdhouse” is set at 7-10pm on March 28 at the Inn at Longshore in Westport. The birdhouse auction just last year was able to raise $120,000 for the operating costs of Project Return. This year’s auction co-chairwoman, Susanne Hendrick, is aiming to exceed $140,000.
The actual deadline for the submission of the birdhouses was on February 5.  John and Ginny Matchak’s business, the Woodworkers Club, was opened for the free use of those hobbyists participating in the Project Return auction.

Serafino Carri, a vocational woodworker and program manager of IBM is just one of the hobbyists. He built 2 birdhouses, both with a storybook design. Carri said, "This year, I'm going with a Dr. Seuss theme, and I'm calling it 'Bird One' and 'Bird Two.' It's always nice to use your outlets to do some good."
Another hobbyist who has even been a part of the auction every year since it started is Roger Eickoff. He said, "I'm not going to try to compete with that crowd. The thing I try to do is to make them unusual so they have some appeal. I'm not trying to make a mansion."

John Matchak said, "We've been helping them for at least eight years. The reason is that we had so many people who were building them coming in for help, and we thought it would be a great idea."
The director of Project Return’s program development, Mimi Haley, commented that the auction would have around 200 birdhouses every year. The admission is $125 per person and the birdhouses would be auctioned off "from a low of $50 to several thousand dollars," she said.
"We even had a birdhouse that sold for $11,000 four years ago," Haley mentioned.

Hendrick, a Project Return executive board member, found those working in the Woodworkers Club to be very hardworking and creative.
She said, “They've donated the time for us to come and to use their facility and supplies and to help those who need help, like myself."

Project Return can house 7 girls at one time and since its start, it has been a shelter to more than 140 girls. The lengths of the time the girls stay at the home may range from 6 to 18 months.