Items still were arriving Monday afternoon for the National Teachers Hall of Fame Auction, and Jenny Harder was working diligently to get them sorted, numbered and ready for buyers.
Already the auction promised to be bigger than those in past year, and more donations were due to arrive today. Harder, NTHF director of induction and recognition, made sure that silent auction items were delivered to the Emporia Country Club on Monday and was preparing for the transfer of live auction items to Emporia’s Radio Stations office.
“She is ramrodding this whole thing,” said volunteer Carol Strickland, who talked about the auction effort while Harder finished last-minute tasks. “If we died tomorrow, somebody could just pick up and go with it. It’s in good shape.”
The event will span Tuesday through Thursday, with silent auction items on display at the country club during that time, and the live auction set to begin at 6:05 p.m. on Thursday. The live radio auction will be the focus of a watch party beginning at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the country club.
Strickland said that participants will pay $10 each to cover the cost of hors d’oeuvres and to watch the auction on a big-screen television at the club. A cash bar also will be available. Six tables of silent auction items will be closed, one at a time, during the live auction, which will give participants an opportunity to bid through much of the evening, she said.
A total of 76 items have been donated for the live auction, as of Monday afternoon, and 55 items are in the silent auction.
“The community has been awesome, and out-of-town people and sports teams,” Strickland said.
Mary Stauffer has donated one of her late husband Richard’s art pieces and Stanley Jewelry has donated a $600 diamond ring.
Trip packages will be available to St. Louis, Chicago, Wichita, and Omaha, which includes passes to the children’s museum and zoo there and weekend use of a van for transportation. Emporia State, Kansas State and the University of Kansas have donated sports packages, as have the St. Louis Cardinals, this year’s World Series winner.
“We haven’t gotten our package from the Chiefs yet,” she said.
Organizers also plan, for the first time, to stream the auction live over the Internet.
Proceeds from the auction will be donated to help defray costs of inducting the NTHF Class of 2007. Other items ready for the auction include: tickets to the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Kansas City Symphony, Topeka Civic Theater, the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealy Plaza, the Dallas Zoo, Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament, and Verizon Wireless Amphitheater; passes to the Omniplex Science Museum, a Suds-N-Go car wash system, an area rug, spa pedicure and deluxe manicure, and original artwork.