On Sunday, June 4, there was a lot of fun and love to be had at the 24th Annual God’s Portion Day Auction in Nauvoo. It was a record breaking year… over $140,000 was raised. This is always their largest fundraiser.
This money raised goes straight to the Sts. Peter and Paul School (SPPS) system. SPPS is a private school, so they are not given any state funding at all. It’s very hard for them to survive, so they only survive because of people that make donations and because of the people that go to this event (and others), giving of what they have.
I got to this event and was a complete stranger to everyone, yet was greeted with open arms from everyone I met. In fact, I think everyone I met even offered me food and drinks from their table. By the time I left at the end, I would consider myself a friend to everyone I met. I learned that they were extremely friendly, easy-going, high-energy, they love to laugh, they love their hot food from the grill, and they love their drinks.
But even more important is the love they have for each other and the love they have for children at the school, some which they know and a lot whom they don’t even know. They just want to see the school keep thriving. They have a deep-rooted love for God, that’s why they all showed up.
One thing that really touched me is right in the middle of the auction, they stopped to say a prayer for a young boy who wasn’t even at the auction, but who they heard is really struggling: Simon Bentzinger. They had the children pray for him first and then everyone prayed for him. Then, back to the auction.
There were many in the crowd who donated significant extra money towards a tuition assistance fund, which they just announced they were establishing at this event. They ended up making $18,400 worth of donations towards this fund. This fund is very important, in that it will help the school not have to turn away kids who can’t afford the tuition.
There were over 400 items auctioned off, and let me tell you, these were all amazing items and such a wide variety! I can honestly say I’ve never seen an auction like this in my entire life.
Temperatures were even kept reasonable in the modest gym where they had big fans blowing, because there was a huge downpour of rain that hit for about an hour that really seemed to cool things down a bit
All auctioning services were done by Sullivan Auctioneers, a BigIron company, who did a phenomenal job.
Some of the auctioned assortment of items included: Iowa vs. Illinois game for $550; patio set for $2,000; “sheriff for the day” for $250; Shark robot vacuum for $1,000; John Deere Gator for $3,100; shrimp boil at house for $1,600; quilt for $600; gun for $800; a BBQ grill for $1,400; “principal for the day” for $325; drill set for $800; portable pizza oven for $300; Yeti cooler filled with drinks for $850; 47-inch web swing for $375; homemade wood toy barn for $775; KitchenAid Mixer for $750; Jameson Irish Whiskey for $1,000; Radio Flyer Bicycle for $500; 44-inch Lawn Sweeper for $750; a Solo Stove for $750; old rodeo program for $350; Buccaneer Plus for $1,000; St. Louis Cardinals tickets for $300; a hand made, hand stitched quilt from the local Nauvoo Piecemakers; 3 Keys Donations (as she always does); RePete; Nauvoo Fudge Factory; plus so much more.
Some of the more personal items were: a personal stained glass window painting picture of Jesus Christ by donor/artist Zoe Hughes that went for $900; country singer Drew Baldridge and Katie Baldridge tickets to bonfire music festival, 2 signed cd’s, hat and sweatshirt (Katie is an alumna at SPPS, so Drew donated all this stuff) — $450; hand carved wood birds from donor Gene and Linda McEntee that are made from the Sugar Maple Tree from Albert Haas property which is now school property — went for $1,000; “Our Lady Of Guadalupe” is a painting that was picked up by a Father Wissing during his military travels in Mexico in 1964 — This piece was very sought after — This went for $2,700.
Some of the popular food items auctioned off included a plate of four cheeseburgers that went for a whopping $1,000 to the Schneiders. The very first food item of the day was a big tray of bacon wrapped lil’ smokies that sold for $130 to Brody Hopp.
Others that sold were a 3.4-pound bone-in Tomahawk steak for $650. A plate of grilled ribeye sandwiches sold for $500. Armadillo eggs sold for $400. A fresh, hot Casey’s supreme pizza brought in $225.
Among the kids at the auction, one of the biggest sought after things they wanted was the chance to bid on the “ring the bell” item. The principal explained that all the kids are always wanting to ring the bell, so he thought it would be a great addition to the auction to allow one bid per each quarter of the school year. So attendees got the opportunity to bid on this item four separate times. It was darling watching some of the students bidding on this with their families’ auction numbers.
Also, Mike McCarty with Outlaw Tees did so much work with signs and advertising, etc.
For the 50/50 raffle, Dorris Harmon ended up donating hers back to the Tuition Assistance Fund.
Julie Metternich won 1st place in the hat draw and she chose the IPAD as her prize. Grant Feichert was 2nd place and received a 50” TV as his prize. The Apple IPad was donated by Schmitz-Banks & Beals Funeral Home and the TV was donated by Kim Logan and Jocelyn Priebe.
The big grand prize of the evening went to Steve Markey, who won an extremely nice John Deere mower through a Bucket Auction.
Chairs of the event were Stacie Payne and Christina Metternich. I never once saw these ladies sit down. They worked tirelessly to make this auction go smoothly and they did it all with smiles on their faces the whole time. Huge thanks to Nicole Wheatley for helping me the whole time, as well.
These people have beautiful hearts and I’m so glad to have met all of them. If anyone would like to make a donation to SPPS, they can send their donation to: PO Box 160, Nauvoo, IL 62354.