The Big Spenders: Paddle 17

Background
We had a new experience for the Hart family last week. We attended our first ever Service/Donation Auction. Apparently, they aren't that uncommon of a fundraiser but I'd never been to one. The members of our congregation donated new and used items and services which are auctioned off to other members. All proceeds, in this case, went to sending the young women of our ward to summer camp.

It seems like a clever, benign idea on the surface. Clever, yes. Benign, no. It is amazing how you can get money out of people when you combine the stress of an auction with the goodwill of charity (even for people as parsimonious as us).

Enter
All along the table as we entered where the silent bids (just a sign up sheet) along side wonderful baked goods. I explained to Emmett what the sign up sheet meant and he pointed out a plate of cinnamon rolls he wanted with no bids and we bid $1.

Dinner
Of course, the meal was a potluck but was yummy nonetheless. Dinner was notable in this story only for two reasons. 1) I couldn't get Emmett to eat because he was glued to the sign up sheets steering the late comers away from "his" cinnamon rolls. He alerted me when we were out bid. I had to place another bid bringing us to $4. Jani, of course, rolled her eyes knowing she could easily make 6 cinnamon rolls for well under a dollar. It didn't help when we discovered an identical plate of rolls still at a dollar. I brushed it off... we're just donating (what a slippery slope!).

2) We perused the list of item/services available and dutifully marked off the items in which we weren't interested so we wouldn't get distracted. Car wash, no. Yard Work, what yard, hah!, no. Homemade greeting cards, no. Metal art, who needs that! Oops. Our friend who had made the metal art was sitting at our table and it had just slipped out before I could stop myself. On the bright side, his Angel Moroni silhouette later fetched $20 and his CTR book ends $15.

Before dinner was over we were at $6 on the cinnamon rolls. I thought Emmett was going to pass out with stress before the silent bid ended. He never left the spot in front of those rolls, but he did finally get his cinnamon rolls for those you who can't handle the stress either.

Auction
Numbered paddles were distributed, little kids were carted off to the nursery, and the bidding began. At first, we were pretty good. We bid only on the things we decided, only up to the price we decided. We bid on a photo session from a photographer friend of ours but stopped when we got to full price (of course, we did our homework up front). It went for one and half times full price. "It's okay honey-it's for a good cause and it's tax-deductible."

There were a few husbands bidding on things their wives had donated. I'm still not sure if they were trying run up the bid or just trying to get them out of rendering whatever service they had donated.

Luckily, Jani wandered off to help, when my "item" came up: three-days, two-nights babysitting. I thought it would be the perfect belated anniversary gift (I spent our anniversary in the middle of the desert in New Mexico with Jani home morning sick). The competition was rough. There were lots of other families interested. The only person more stressed than those of us bidding was Amy who had donated it. I did win finally and to my credit I was $30 less than my predetermined maximum but it didn't help Jani's sticker shock (She did come around later and decide it was a nice gift). Don't be surprised if you see one of those silly polls, Havasupai, Buckskin Gulch in the Paria or a weekend caving in the Guadalupe Mounatins show up.

At this point the Hart family combined purchases was 1/3 of the stated goal for the entire auction. So we really opened the flood gates. Jani bid on "Design/Build Garage Shelves (labor only)" which was crossed off the list. Her last minute bid came in right as the auctioner said sold and there was some contention as to who had the last bid. My friend Scott was the donator and offered up a second set of garage shelves which solved the controversy but edged us toward the 1/2 goal mark.

The last item we bid on was the "Tax Return Preparation" which you would think wouldn't have much value in May but it was going up quickly. Jani blew right past her stated limit. The bid was on its way to $100 and I just had to take the paddle away from Jani.

Check please!
She was mad at first but as the emotion ebbed and the time to write the check neared she was grateful for my rash action. We weren't the only big spenders as the fundraiser raised 4 times the stated goal. But it was still a learning experience for all of us (maybe I should make Emmett work off those cinnamon rolls).