justin.schneider@heraldbulletin.com
Teamwork can make the impossible possible.
With the goal of raising $90,000 in a single weekend, the team behind Bids for Kids needed to pull together.
Volunteers worked around the clock Saturday during the 19th annual Bids for Kids auction held at Reardon Auditorium on the campus of Anderson University. Proceeds go to the Exchange Club Foundation of Anderson’s Family Resource Center to help fight child abuse.
Maryanna Flowers was one of several volunteers from Saint John’s Health System who took to the phones first thing on Saturday morning. When Flowers’ shift was over at noon, she moved seamlessly from volunteer to bidder.
“This is an antique doily mounted on green velvet,” said Flowers, displaying the framed decor she successfully bid on. “My daughter loves green, so it will probably end up on the wall at her house.”
Flowers said she paid $25 for the piece, valued at $90. She also got a great deal on skin-care products and brought along her daughter Ciara to enjoy the day.
“We had a great time, and it’s all for a good cause,” Flowers said.
A legion of volunteers from Community Hospital Anderson came in to relieve the Saint John’s folks. Others, including Bonny Clark of the Anderson Noon Exchange Club, were settling in for a long night.
“I’ll probably be here until about 8 p.m.,” said Clark, who accepted tickets from those bidding in person. “We’ve had a lot of wonderful people working hard to help raise money. They have all done a tremendous job.”
Clark praised the efforts of Lambert’s Music Center, which presented a check for $5,200 on Saturday evening. The group raised around $4,800 in 2006 and came back even stronger this year.
Clark accepted bids for cookies, chocolate, Beany Babies, T-shirts, golf outings, music lessons, CDs and DVDs, cosmetics, scrap book supplies, eye exams, pet exams, sports memorabilia and more. A rotating cast of hosts presented each lot, and prospective bidders were given five minutes to bid.
Although donations were down this year, foundation president Kent Odom said the auction was off to a good start Saturday afternoon.
“Our percentage is really good,” said Odom, looking on at the live auction broadcast taking place just a few feet away. “We’ve had a lot of overbids, so even though donations were a little down, we’re still in really good shape.”
The auction ran from 6 p.m. to midnight on Friday and from 10 a.m. to midnight Saturday.
From noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Odom said, phone bidders will be able to collect their merchandise. Items that were not picked up or that went unsold will be put up for sale at a special mini auction beginning at 3 p.m.
Odom said the Adopt-A-Teddy Bear program, part of Bids for Kids campaign in recent years, has also been popular. Donors can adopt one of the 54 teddy bears seated in 10 rows of Reardon Auditorium for $50 each.
“Around 54 children die from child abuse every year in Indiana,” Odom said. “The idea is that everyone who adopts one can help get rid of one of those deaths. We named each one of them to make it a little more personal.”
Local News
5:13 p.m.: Volunteers work around the clock: Bids for Kids concludes with mini auction today
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