Staff
The 31st-annual Kiwanis auction is underway this week on the Internet auction site ebay.ca, with bidding having opened Sunday and closing this Saturday (May 8).
The Kiwanis’ eBay store, where all of the items up for bid can be found, is located at http://stores.ebay.ca/kiwanisauction
People also can search eBay Stores: Kiwanis Auction.
Kiwanian Shanda DeGagné-Begin, who chairs the planning committee, said there’s a total of 133 items up for bid, which is about 50 more than last year’s inaugural online auction.
“We had a really great response from the businesses throughout the district,” she noted.
Auction items range from an outdoor bistro set, a men’s watch, standing clock, hockey hoodie, computer printer, golf bag, golf shirts, throw blankets, and 10 yards of gravel to a stay in a jacuzzi suite, Budweiser bar and stool set, a concrete seat, five yards of soil, and motor oil.
Also up for grabs are gift certificates for many things, including (but not limited to) food, housecleaning services, dance lessons, coffee, hair care, 18 holes of golf, tackle, and landscaping.
A complete list of items was published in yesterday’s Daily Bulletin, and will run again in tomorrow’s Times.
The auction ends at 5 p.m. on Saturday, with bidding ending on some items at various times throughout the day.
“We’ve had a few hundred bids, so things are picking up,” said DeGagné-Begin.
“The total bidding is up over $2,000 at this point,” she added, though thinking people are holding back a little bit this year as there was more early bidding last year.
“There are still great deals to be had,” DeGagné-Begin stressed. “There is something definitely for everybody.
“I also want to remind people it’s very easy,” she added. “They don’t need to pay online, they can pay at the time of pickup at Lidkea’s.”
Auction winners will be able to pick up their item(s) at Lidkea Optometry Services here next week (May 10-14), or have it mailed to them if need be.
Those who want to take part in the Kiwanis auction will need to go www.ebay.ca and, if they’re not already an eBay user, register, providing an e-mail address and some other information.
Bidders who win items can pay for them online using PayPal, or by cash or cheque when they pick them up at Lidkea Optometry Services.
All bidding takes place in Canadian dollars, with proceeds going towards local Kiwanis projects.
The club contributes to numerous causes, including Sunny Cove Camp, the Riverside Foundation for Health Care, district 4-H, “Fishing for Futures,” summer programs at the Fort Frances Public Library, high school bursaries, and high school and elementary school projects.
It also supports Northwestern Health Unit projects, the “Relay for Life,” “Meals on Wheels,” the Rainy River District Festival of the Performing Arts, Fort Frances “Community Chest,” and the Salvation Army’s Christmas kettle and “Adopt-a-Family” programs.
The auction is the club’s second-biggest fundraiser of the year behind its “Trip of the Month” draw.
Last year’s inaugural online auction raised $4,400.
Anyone with questions about the auction can e-mail DeGagné-Begin at kiwanis.auction@hotmail.com
