Spirit 2010: Part II

Every year Keith and I attend this event we leave the house with a budget amount in mind. In the past we have sometimes stuck to that dollar amount and other years failed. This year we spent more than anticipated, but we agreed that we bought items that we would use and are practical.

These banners were hung throughout the gym. The silent auction runs from 5:00 to 7:30. Different portions of the silent auction are shut down in phases so that you have a chance to bid on all sorts of items. The silent auction has hundreds of items to bid on. At 7:30 the guests are seated at their assigned tables for the meal. The meal consists of prime rib or chicken, baked potato, dinner salad, vegetable, dinner roll, and dessert. The event is also open bar all evening.

This year we were pleased to have the State of Nebraska's Governor and his wife in attendance at the event. The Governor and his wife donated lunch for 8 people at the governor's mansion. This item on the oral auction sold for $1600. Sorry this is not a very good photo, but our table was not very close to the stage for a good photo.

This is another photo of the VIP table that evening. The photos from that night do not do the event justice because of the dim lighting in the gym during the event. The gym is pretty much lit by lots of candles and lanterns.

On the silent auction you can purchase Norfolk Catholic sports items. We purchased this photo above. It is a photo of this year's volleyball team. The photo came with a certificate for little girls' volleyball camp next summer and a t-shirt from the team. Cara will be attending volleyball camp again. I ended up giving the photo to a senior volleyball player and she gave Cara a poster of this photo in exchange. We also purchased a certificate for little girls' cheer camp on the silent auction. Ashlin can't wait to go to cheer camp.

There are items on the silent auction for the home, such as this Peggy Karr glass plate. I did not get this item.

Each class donates a basket of items to the silent auction. This Christmas themed basket was donated by the 1st Grade Class. Many times the class baskets will go for $300 a piece on the auction. Cara's 4th Grade Class had a picnic basket theme, Erica's 2nd Grade Class had a BBQ theme, and Ashlin's Kindergarten Class had a Little Learner's theme.

This cross garden statue was in the religious/holiday theme category. I loved this item, but I couldn't figure out where to put it outside. Therefore, I didn't bid on it, but I sure loved it!

This painting titled "The Pope's Steps" was truly amazing. I loved it also, but I can't bid on everything that I want.

This table centerpiece I was given at the end of the night for all of my hard work during the weekend at the event.

This candle and holder was the item I got out of the $25 women's grab bag. The women's grab bag items range in value from $25 to $100. But, you only pay $25 for the bag. Also, you could purchase a 1 in 100 chance to win a Traeger Grill, you could purchase a $25 raffle ticket for the chance to win $1000, $2000, or $3000 in cash, and a $10 chance at a split the pot game valued at $1000. We didn't win any of the money.

But, we did go home with some other great items in addition to the two camps that I spoke about earlier. We were the high bidders on two tickets to see the Minnesota Vikings on December 5th (Keith is still deciding who to take along). We also purchased the camper rental again like last year (this was the one item that our kids told us to get again before we left the house for the evening). We are splitting the purchase of garden fresh produce for next summer with our neighbors, Scott and Nicole (all of us can't wait for this and we are plotting to make homemade salsa and freeze sweet corn).

And then our final LARGE purchase of the evening was $50 a week in groceries for a year. This item was donated by Affiliated Foods and must be used at one of their stores. Keith and I are very excited about this purchase because our groceries are pre-paid plus we paid less than face value for these groceries.

It was such an enjoyable evening!!!

Take care,

Michelle