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St. Michael’s scholarship auction has Halloween twist
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Ginger, Gilligan, Mary Ann and The Skipper made an appearance at the St. Michael’s 9th annual Scholarship Auction Oct. 29..
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Members of the St. Michael’s Youth Collaborative, (from left to right) Natalie Ricciutti, Edmond Pilolli, Sophia Pilolli, Gina Mancini and Ashley Milligan, sold tickets for the Heads and Tails game during the St. Michael’s 9th annual Scholarship Auction Oct. 29.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker .Attendees of the St. Michael’s 9th annual Scholarship Auction got a good look at the 51 lots available for bidding during the Spooktacular Auction Oct. 29.
By ABBY SLANKER
St. Michael’s Catholic Church hosted its ninth annual Scholarship Auction at the Family Life Center Oct. 29, with a little holiday twist. Attendees of the Spooktacular Auction were encouraged to wear costumes, and many got into the Halloween spirit.
Proceeds from the auction benefit the St. Michael’s Scholarship Fund, which provides annual scholarships to the youth of the church.
According to Lynn Roman, Scholarship Auction volunteer, the church had provided 139 graduating seniors who have been active in the Parish with scholarships.
“In the last nine years, the St. Michael’s Scholarship Fund has provided 139 young adults from the church with over $100,000 in scholarships to help in their pursuit of higher education,” Roman said.
The evening included a silent auction, a live auction with Scholarship Auction Chairman Ron Roman from Roman Auctioneers performing the auctioneer duties, and a Chinese auction. Items for all three auctions were donated by members of the church.
The silent auction included 100 items to bid on and consisted of such prizes as a fine wine cooler, a Winnie the Pooh basket, a Golf Headquarters gift certificate, a sweet treats basket, a family fun night basket and pizza for six months.
The Chinese auction included several items, such as a holiday basket, a book basket, a fall wreath, board games and a variety of lottery tickets.
Before the main event of the evening, attendees were invited to enjoy appetizers, and then feasted on a dinner of pulled pork, homemade chili, potato skins and nachos. They then topped the meal off with pie for dessert. The food was prepared by the Scholarship Auction committee.
The live auction consisted of 51 lots and offered a variety of items, such as homemade Christmas cookies donated by the 12th grade Faith Sharing Class, seasonal dinners for two delivered to the winning bidder’s home, a week in Cook Forest, a three-hour limo ride, a soup a month for a year, a Handel’s ice cream social for 50 people, a week at an ocean front beach condo in North Carolina, OSU-Penn State football tickets and 20 tickets to a Youngstown Phantoms hockey game.
Youth volunteers from the church were also selling tickets for the Heads and Tails game, during which players are told to put their hands on their heads or tails and go through a process of elimination as the game goes on and gets harder and harder. The winner of the game received half the ticket proceeds.
A display of thank-you notes and photos of past scholarship winners was set up in the Family Life Center for attendees to peruse and as a reminder of the where the proceeds will go and who they will benefit.
Halloween costume awards were also handed out during the evening.