11th annual MLC Benefit Auction fundraiser an investment in the school’s future
The 11th annual Mountain Lake Christian (MLC) Benefit Auction was held at the school this past Friday, March 20.
The benefit featured both a live and a silent auction.
Featured on the live auction block were 110 unique items and services – most from local businesses and individuals – and most including goods and services not available anywhere else.
Themed gift baskets of all varieties meant there was something for everyone at the silent auction, including car care, rainy day activities, family game night, coffee lovers, scrapbooking, car activities, dinner-and-a-movie, athletics, toys, personal care, tools and more. In addition business donors added special deals to the silent auction.
Walking tacos, hot dogs and bars of all kinds for dessert, along with beverages, were available. Ingredients for the walking tacos, along with the hot dogs and buns, were provided by Hy-Vee of Windom.
The total amount raised – without expenses – was $41,610. Those involved with the benefit auction sare, “We are pleased, and so grateful for those who came out to help make it a success!”
All funds raised by the MLC Benefit Auction go to the MLC Scholarship Fund, enabling more families to send their children to MLC, which is an investment in the school’s future.
Below is a photo gallery from both the live and silent auctions:
WENDELL, LEFT, AND Gloria Klassen, right, peruse the 2015 Auction Catalog for the MLC Benefit Auction as they plot their bidding strategy.
GRANDMA TARY JOHNSON, center, along with grandson Eli Johnson, left and granddaughter Katie Johnson, right, check out some of the children’s items tucked into Silent Auction baskets.
GLADYS FRIESEN DECIDES this Silent Auction basket is a good one on which to place a bid.
EVEN MLC STUDENT Timothy Sellers – at the Benefit Auction with a little coin in his pocket – writes down his bid on a Silent Auction item.
A COUPLE OF the Live Auction items on which to bid were – colonoscopies. Above, MLC student, “Dr.” Mark Quiring, walks the runway advertising the important-to-colon-health service.
AT LEFT, MLC High School student, Mikkala Pearson, left and MLC elementary student, Lydia Cavanaugh, right, dramatically act out the professional window cleaning (inside and out) service for which folks were bidding as encouragement to up the bids. At back right, Darwin Hall, auctioneer and center, Scott Raabe, auction clerk (and MLC Bible/history/literature teacher).
FRAMED AT LEFT by a budding tree branch, Rosalie Dick, benefit auction kitchen volunteer, dishes up the taco meat with seasoning for the walking tacos.
EVEN AS AUCTION-goers move into the lunch room to enjoy their walking tacos, hot dogs or dessert – they are connected to the Live Auction action via closed-circuit television. Multi-tasking are, Pedro Maureiro, MLC High School foreign exchange student, left and at right, Jenesa Stoesz (behind) and Anna Engstrom.
WAITING IN THE wings are the MLC High School and Elementary School students who took the various auction items out onto the runway as a way to add positive punch to each of the goods. At back, Darwin Hall, of Hall Auctioneering, remains hard at work calling out the bidders.
THE MOST OBVIOUS way to acknowledge a bid was to wave the bidding number, just as James P. Dick, left, is doing. Other bidders were not so obvious – noting their bid raises with just a nod of the head. At right, Arlyn Baerg observes Dick’s bidding technique while enjoying a Special K bar.
JODY LEPP LIFTS her bidding number to make an official – but her expression does not display confidence in the move. All’s well that ends well, though, as Lepp did have the high bid to claim the oak accent table.
NORMAN DICK DEMONSTRATES another bidding option – the raised pointer finger at the end of a raised arm.
AWARDING THE SILENT Auction baskets and items are Karin Stoesz, left, benefit auction volunteer and MLC Cedar (Grades 5 and 6) teacher, along with another benefit auction volunteer and math whiz kid, Miranda Stoesz, right.
