Make A Wish Auction

I have never attended a more stylish, worthwhile event than the local Make A Wish Dinner. Last month, at the Waterfront Convention Center -- I was delighted to be at that event to support one of my favorite young families...

My Carrie, with her husband Steve, daughter Elizabeth and son Dylan.

Last year, Dylan's Make-a-wish was a trip to Hawaii!!  The Iowa branch of Make A Wish has granted over 1,950 wishes, and the national organization has granted well over 165,000 wishes to critically ill children.

They rely on corporate donations and sponsorship (thanks, Disney!) , but they also do fundraising through Gala events -- and a big part of that is the silent auction.

This one was unlike any silent auction I have ever attended.  ALL THE BIDDING TOOK PLACE VIA YOUR CELLPHONE.  Yikes!!  How much fun is that??

When you arrived to pick up your tickets, they took your cellphone number and you were registered with the online bidding site...

Every table had an auction book, listing every item up for bid by NUMBER...

To bid, all you had to do was text the number of the item -- along with the amount of your bid.

It was a HUGE, HUGE listing of items, events, gift certificates, you name it -- and they were auctioning it off!!

There were vacation trips, time shares, plane tickets, Nascar races...

John Deere toys, boy baskets, girly baskets, manicures, spa days...

The auction items were displayed up and down several hallways.

I bid on: every toy item, every girly item, every dinner theater package, most of the restaurant certificates...

I went up to $50 for the wooden flag...

IT WAS SO MUCH FUN to do the bidding in this new, technological way. Even though I don't have a SMART PHONE -- I was able to text in my bids, sitting at the table. And we all got to watch what things were going for on the giant overhead screens.

There were two brand new quilts on the auction -- made from Star Wars fabric.  A grandmother of a Make A Wish child had donated them to honor his memory, and to thank the foundation for giving him his wish.  Because I always worry that handmade things don't fetch what they should, I bid $150 for each of the quilts...but quickly learned that they were already at over $300.   I was delighted!

I'm not sure what the final number was, but I do know that grandmother was thrilled that her quilts were helping the Make a Wish Foundation grant the wish of another critically ill child...

Just one more example of what I've long known.  Cooking is love....and sewing is, too.

Women who sew are the kindest, most generous people in the world.  You sew and then YOU GIVE IT AWAY!!  So -- if you have already made a quilt for every person in your life -- make your next one for the local Make A Wish Foundation....

It's one more way you can Pay It Forward...