Silent Auction/Brunch...what a success!!

Hey Folks,

Have to admit, I'm a bit more tired today than any workday on site for Habitat. But because of many wonderful people, it's a good tired. Today we held an amazingly successful Silent Auction/Brunch with 30+ attendees. This post will be a photo easy of our Silent Auction event. Don't skip to it yet unless you can't help yourself, but at the end of the post I'll reveal the fruits of the time and labor that went into it.

So here's how to have a successful silent auction. 

First you get organized:

 Next you count your lucky stars (very appropriate for St. Patrick's Day), you have the very best of people to call friends who will help you pull this thing off. Serious hats off to and mucha gratitud to Gretchen, along with her husband Clyde, for opening up their wonderful home to host this event. And if that wasn't enough, Gretchen whipped up some scrumptious brunch delights while Clyde served us mimosas and other refreshing drinks. Many, many thanks as well, to Gladys, who also brought some tasty dishes for the table, Julie, Janeen & Bonnie for getting everyone's auction items on the table and a plate a food in their hands. Bonnie is missing from the photo on the left because she was the photographer. :) We caught her in the next photo (second from the right) among friends.

Next you have some great food:

Invite a some big hearted people willing to support your cause:

Ask them to each bring an item to be auctioned. This can include a delicious treat, personally created art piece or jewelry, sharing a skill or talent you have, or maybe something you may have received as a gift or previously bought that hadn't been used yet:

 

And if you're fortunate, have an inspirational speaker share how the organisation you support has positively impacted their life as WWHH has Brandee and her daughter Kaylee's:

Then let the auction begin!

Once the auction was closed it was fun to see and hear the reaction of our guests once they found out if they won their bid items. There was some real competition going on and I happily  surprised to find out that every single item donated had been bought. Incredible!!!

So after a fast paced two hours, our big hearted guests left with tummy's filled with good food, time spent visiting with fun & interesting people and a little treasure. Or in some cases four!

Once folks headed home my kind, hardworking friends and myself took a little time to sit and marvel at how successful the event turned out being. They were, of course, curious at how much was donated to my It's Home Women Build project. As I added things up, they played a little game guessing at how much was raised. I heard $600-, $700 something, then someone thought they were getting crazy with $1000-. I can't tell you the pleasure I got in seeing their reaction when I revealed we had raised...wait for it...$1468!!!!! With a couple more donations still to come in online. Unbelievable! Truly!

Thank you a thousand times to everyone. People like you are the reason I haven't just dropped out of society and gone to live in a cave. May your kindness be returned to you.

Until next time, live your best life, however big or small it may be!

Nanette