2019 NUUC Service Auction: Great Fun & a Big Success!
Our service auction on Saturday evening April 27th was a lot of fun and quite a success. The theme "Camera, Lights, Auction!" resulted in
amazing movie decorations. The Sanctuary and Fellowship Hall were both decorated with movie-related decorations, which included a giant picture of the Hollywood sign and hill, many movie posters, large pictures of actors and actresses, scenes from movies, film reels, film, cameras, Hollywood Sidewalk Stars, and a giant Academy Award Oscar.
Beyond the decorations, many activities went on simultaneously. There were the
Silent Auction and the Theme Basket Auction for adults. Meanwhile in the Kids' Raffle Auction, the children were eagerly vying for passes for movies, certificates for Magic Mountain fun outings, gift cards for Jets Pizza, Skyline Chili, and Whit's Frozen Custard, a pass for a flight simulator session, plus games, and educational toys and books. In addition, there was a
fantastic
supper
with a movie motif
provided by Susan Ritchie and Donna DeGeorge, plus
other refreshments, including wine.
In Fellowship Hall, we had 5 colorful, fun activity booths. A popular activity was the "Mold a Movie Monster" craft booth hosted by Dee, Alex, and Jason Burlison, where kids could make a monster with clay. Many liked Marty Keith's "Hollywood Rings" game booth and tried their hand at tossing rings onto pegs to win movie-related prizes. At the "You Oughta Be In Pictures" booth, people could get their picture taken in front of a green screen by Neil Kirby. Then, John Foreman, using a computer, realistically overlaid the picture onto an exciting background somewhere in the world such as the Eiffle Tower. Another popular booth was the "Special Effects Face Painting" booth where Azin Sharifi created many delightful faces on children during the evening. At the "Popped Cinemacorn" booth, Mary Vietmeirer made tastety popcorn with a real popcorn vendor-style cart throughout the evening, which was provided to everyone for free.
The evening got more exciting when the 1st of 2 live auction sessions began with Nathan Morse as our quite entertaining auctioneer. At the intermission, people again enjoyed the 5 fun activity booths, more excellent food, and finished up the silent and basket auctions. The 2nd live auction session then continued the excitement and was quite fun due to Nathan Morse's lively sense of humor. Throughout the evening, the changing of activities was marked by the trumpet fanfare of the Star Wars Trumpeter, Susan Ritchie, and movie director Bob Keith. During the evening, three $25 gift cards for nice restaurants were given as door prizes for adults, plus 3 kids received door prizes of fun games and books. At the end of the evening, we saw the children's happy reactions to winning items as the tickets were drawn for the Kids' Raffle Auction. This service auction was a truly memorable evening, and we look forward to next year's service auction.
The service auction is NUUC's biggest fund-raiser and this year's auction was a big success. We grossed just over $10,154 in sales, which was just under our $11,000 goal. We thank all the donors for their many auction items and all the bidders who bought them. This amazing community event could not have happened without each and every one of you. There were only about $800 in expenses thanks to many special donations by the service auction team members and activity booths' hosts, plus people's creativeness in finding low-cost ways to do the event's decorations.
In addition to the money, another big benefit of the service auction is that it builds and strengthens NUUC's community throughout the whole year. People get together for dinners, outings, or to provide their services for each other. The result is that people meet and spend time with others over the next year that wouldn't have happened otherwise. Whether you are a donor or winning bidder, the service auction is a great way to get acquainted with others.
We give a hearty thank you to the Service Auction Magic Makers team, which planned and conducted this fabulous service auction. We also give a big thank you to both the setup and decorations teams, who did a great job in transforming the church into the "Lights, Camera, Auction!" gala event. We thank Trina Timson for setting up silent and basket auctions in limited time. The checkin process went well due to the good efforts of Chris Aultman with assistance of Dee Burlison and we thank them for their efforts. We also thank
Azin Sharifi
and Trina Timson for receiving items and arranging them as people arrived. The food team of Susan Ritchie and Donna DeGeorge plus a few others gets a great big thank you for providing a tasty supper with a
movie motif and they had food available th
roughout the evening, plus they served refreshments including wine. A special thank you goes to all our activity booth hosts identified earlier in this article. Their efforts added extra fun to the evening's activities. Additionally, we give a hearty thank you to John Rodeheffer, Roger Orwick, and Bob Keith for constructing the 5 activity booths. And let's not forget a large thank you for our super auctioneer, Nathan Morse, for skillfully conducting the live auction and using humor to add to the fun. We also thank Marty Keith for awarding the adult and kids door prizes 3 times during the evening. In addition, we thank Dee Burlison for skillfully announcing the winners of the Kids' Raffle Auction. Our thanks also goes to Martha Filipic for being the auction recorder and assisting Chris Aultman during the live auctions and checkout. In addition, we give a big thank you to the cleanup team for their quick work right after the event to get the church ready for the Sunday service the following morning. Another special, large thank you goes to Chris Aultman for putting together the event's catalog, handling checkin, auction inputs, and checkout on auction day, and later following up with participants on their donations and purchases. In addition, we thank the remaining people not specifically identified here, for their help in putting together this big event. Lastly, we thank all the donors, and all the buyers that made the service auction such a fun event and a great success.
Emails were sent to both winning bidders and donors to notify them who won each offering and who donated the offerings.
In addition, to help people easily locate who bought and sold each item at the service auction, we will have 2 new re
ports available online at NUUC's website which will be available throughout the coming year. We'll also have this year's service auction catalog and the catalogs of past service auctions online, too. You can reach this service auction information at www.NUUC.org/service-auction. For questions, contact Chris Aultman or Bob Keith.
While winning bidders cannot claim a tax deduction because they received something in return, donors can claim a tax deduction. If you would like a letter recognizing your donation, please contact Susan Ritchie. Please note that there might be some IRS restrictions on certain types of donations though.
Everyone definitely can look forward to the next service auction, which will be held in the early spring of 2020. We're sure it will be even more exciting and surprising than this service auction
.
Best regards,
The Service Auction Magic Makers --
Chris Aultman, Jan Bourke, Dee Burlison, Marty Keith, Azin Sharifi, Trina Timson, and Bob Keith (chair)
p.s. We have had some inquiries about possibly selling the 12 movie posters that were used as part of the service auction's decorations. Therefore, we've decided to sell the posters in a brief post auction after church on an upcoming Sunday. Watch for more details about this special poster auction.
