Peace and tie-dye at St. Rose auction Nov. 8
Karen Moore checks out the desserts arrayed for a dessert dash at last year’s St. Rose of Lima Catholic School fundraiser auction and banquet. This year’s auction is Nov. 8.
FILE PHOTO
From left: Jacob Green, Michelle Brown and Jacky Mendez keep busy pouring drinks at last year’s St. Rose of Lima Catholic School fundraiser.
EPHRATA — The 42nd annual St. Rose of Lima Catholic School auction Nov. 8 will have a 1960s-’70s theme, “A Time for Peace,” which has two meanings, said St. Rose PTO President Jennifer Hickok. The first is taken from the third chapter of Ecclesiastes in the Bible: “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens … A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”
“I think (it’s) really relevant with everything going on,” said St. Rose PTO President Jennifer Hickok. “(We’re) hoping to bring some unity to the community.”
And the second? It’s just fun to dress in bell bottoms and tie-dye.
“It’ll be a blast,” Hickok said. “The music will be great. We have a DJ and the music will be … from ’68-’75. The kind of music I grew up with.”
Michael’s on the Lake of Moses Lake is catering the dinner, Hickok said, and the live auction will be conducted by Austin Booker of Booker Auction. There will also be a silent auction and raffles.
Many of the auction items are donated by local businesses, Hickok said.
“It always amazes me how generous businesses are, especially when times are tough,” she said. “The community just comes through, and it's a beautiful thing.”
Besides the donated items, students in each grade create a work of art to be auctioned off. Those items are especially popular, Hickok said.
“People love getting into bidding wars over those,” she said. “They're beautiful. They're not just a handprint on a piece of paper or something. These are projects that you could frame and put in your house. They're like a point of pride.”
Last year’s auction raised about $260,000, according to Columbia Basin Herald archives.
The auction is the biggest source of support for the school, which educates about 116 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. According to St. Rose’s online report card, the cost of educating a student is just under $10,000 per year, which is substantially lower than at the surrounding public schools. The tuition of a single student is about $6,300, with discounts for younger siblings. That gap is filled by the money raised at the auction.
In addition, there will be the traditional paddle raise for the Fr. Seamus Kerr Scholarship fund, which subsidizes the costs for families who cannot afford the tuition. The school has a policy of not turning away students based on ability to pay, Hickok said. The school also serves students of all religious backgrounds or none, she added.
Hickok’s son has been at St. Rose since kindergarten, she said, and is now in sixth grade.
“I don't know what I would have done, honestly, if it wasn't for St. Rose,” she said. “It's just different … the staff is so vested in every single one of the kids. They walk down the hall and everyone knows each other's names. You just don't get that everywhere.”
‘A Time for Peace’
Nov. 8
Doors open 5 p.m.
Dinner 6 p.m.
Live auction 7 p.m.
St. Rose of Lima Catholic School
520 Nat Washington Way, Ephrata
From left: Jacob Green, Michelle Brown and Jacky Mendez keep busy pouring drinks at last year’s St. Rose of Lima Catholic School fundraiser.