Auction

How can you help?

• Volunteers are needed to help plan the event, solicit donations, set up, work during the event, and clean up. See a list of volunteer opportunities here:
  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0544aea92fa46-olmc8
• Donations are needed to comprise the Silent and Live Auction packages. Each school family is encouraged to donate 2 items toward the auction. You may purchase an item to donate, or solicit the donation from a business/organization. Each donation should be submitted with a form that includes the donor’s contact information and the item’s estimated value. You can download and print the form here or you can get one from the school front office. You will receive a letter confirming your donations for tax purposes.
• Attendees are needed! Please consider attending the auction as a guest and inviting family and friends to join you for the evening!

When and where is this year’s auction? 
This year’s auction will be held on Saturday, March 10, 2018 at Saint Michael Hall, which is the OLMC parish hall on Harpersville Road to the left of the main worship center. Doors will open at 5:30 PM for cocktails and silent auction bidding, dinner and the live auction will begin around 7:30 PM, and the event wraps up around 10:00 PM.

Who attends the auction?
The evening is for adults and includes school parents, alumni parents, OLMC parishioners, and community members. We send out many invitations and you are encouraged to invite your relatives, friends, and neighbors. You can request seating with specific people, or let us seat you with people we think would be a great fit for the evening.

What do you wear to the auction?
Attire is semi-formal or cocktail. If you are inspired to dress according to the theme, go for it!

What is a Silent Auction?
The evening begins with cocktail hour. During this time, guests browse displays of items on which they can bid, and write down their bidder number next to the items they are interested in. To win an item, a guest must be the highest bidder on record when time is called and bid sheets are gathered.

How does the Live Auction work?
When the Silent Auction closes, guests are seated for dinner and the Live Auction begins. The auctioneer starts the bidding for the first item, and guests bid by raising their bidder paddles. When the item is sold, the auctioneer moves on to the next item. Each live auction item has a complete description in the auction catalog and could be anything from a project created by the students, to an outing with teachers, to a vacation, to a year’s worth of dining out. Packages vary each year depending on what items are donated.

What is a grade project?
Each grade level designs a project that incorporates the students’ creativity and character with a package that would appeal to a broad audience, and donates it to the live auction. If there are 2 classes within a grade level (such as 4A and 4B), those classes work together to produce ONE project for that grade level. Parents volunteer to lead the development of these projects. Examples of themed projects are ceramic plates with fingerprints designed into a work of art; quilts (children design/decorate squares); hand-made rosaries; wooden trays or chests decorated with hand-painted tiles; vacation get-aways personalized with a hand-made travel guides, picture frames, or memory books; etc. There is a lot of room for creativity with these projects, and the personalization should be such that the package will still appeal to bidders outside of the grade level students’ parents, since we never know how many parents from each class may attend the auction.

What is a Fund-an-Item?
The school determines a specific need for the upcoming year that would be an expense not covered by the operating budget. This need is explained to the school community in advance, as well as with a presentation during the Live Auction, and an estimated total of its cost is given. Guests have the opportunity to donate different sums of money towards the item during the Live Auction. Past items have included school iPads, increased security measures for the school, a new gym floor, updates to our school library, MakerSpace items, and our outdoor classroom.

What is an auction basket?
A variety of items, ranging from very small to very large, are donated to the auction by school parents, local community members/businesses, and national organizations (such as Disney, Best Buy, etc.). Some items can be auctioned by themselves in the Silent Auction, but often items are grouped together into a small package for the Silent Auction or into a bigger package for the Live Auction. Many times these packages are referred to as “baskets.” It does not necessarily mean that they will be presented in a basket; it is just a common way to refer to packages even if they are put together in a tote bag, wagon, decorative planter, or simply set next to each other.

Why do we have a raffle and how does it work?
Each school family will receive 10 raffle tickets prior to the auction to sell for $2.00 each. The raffle supports up-front auction expenses, and we ask that each family participates by selling their 10 tickets. You may request additional tickets and sell as many as you are able. If you know that you will be unable to sell or buy your 10 tickets, please return them to the school office as soon as possible so that another family can sell them. We will hold the raffle itself during the auction, and raffle 2 items from those that have been donated at the time of the raffle ticket printing. For example, last year we raffled a Kindle Fire tablet and an Amazon gift card. You do not need to attend the auction to win.