Every other year at the biennial Area XII Ringers Conference, a silent auction is held to raise funds for Area XII.
The very first Area XII Silent Auction was held at the second Visalia conference. At the helm of the auction coordination was Norma Rose, and she has spearheaded the auction ever since.
Here's how it works. Participants in the upcoming conference are asked to donate items for the auction. These items can be homemade or store bought, knickknacks or techno-geeky, food or music. Just about anything and everything is accepted for purchase through a bidding process.
Once you’ve decided what to donate, you will need to fill out a form and submit it to Norma Rose. The form can be downloaded from the Area XII Web site (see below) and then mailed to Norma’s house. We’re sure you’ll be tempted to wait until the last minute, but you are encouraged to start this process now. We bet if you put your thinking cap on right now, you’ll be wandering around the house, office or music room one day and will find the perfect item.
At the conference, Norma will place all of the donated items on the auction tables, along with a bid sheet. Bidders will wander by during the course of the event and keep an eye on the items they’d like to take home. Perhaps they’ll put in a bid early, or perhaps wait until the last second to duke it out in a bidding war. Once the bid sheet has been closed, no more bids will be accepted. The winner of each item will write a check to AGEHR Area XII and submit it in order to take the item home.
Note that if your item receives no bids at all, you will have lug it back home again, so choose your item carefully. Past auction items have included everything from tickets to events or concerts, catered meals, a wine tasking tour or weekend getaway, to handmade crafts and baked goods, handbell CDs and DVDs and gift certificates for personal services like babysitting or massages.
Past donations have gone to support the handbell/handchime loan program and the scholarship fund. This year, Area XII is receiving a special gift of both Malmark and Schulmerich handbells from the Marching Handbell Choir. The marching ensemble will give its final performance at Sunday’s massed ringing concert, and will then donate all of their bells to Area XII’s bell/chime loan program. Both of these sets are missing some bells, and funds from the silent auction will go to make two complete sets. We hope you’ll be able to participate in some small way in assisting Area XII to provide handbells for schools wishing to start a handbell music program.
To make a tax-deductible donation, please download the form and return it to the Silent Auction Coordinator (see address on form).
