Kiwanis auction helps community

The Kiwanis Charity Auction is set for Feb. 4 and Feb. 5. There is an almost official list of items elsewhere in this newspaper that you are now holding, or online at grantky.com under Marketplace. A couple items are changing and the Kiwanis members are still adding to the list.

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There are three ways to watch and bid. If you do not receive Insight Cable TV (Channel 21), or Williamstown Cable TV (Channel 16), you can come to the Williamstown City Building and be in the audience and bid. Enter the building from the back. If you have the cable TV channels then all you need is a phone.

To save valuable bidding time, call Rick Skinner at 823-5421 to pre-register and to receive a bidding number. Rick will be able to give you the phone numbers for the auction. It is a good thing to register now. If you cannot remember your bid number, just call after 6 p.m. the day of the auction and a Kiwanian will give it to you.

A valuable lesson, number one, from the 11 previous auctions is time is extremely important in making a bid. Register now even if you are not sure that you will be watching. Be prepared because it could be the difference in getting an item you’ve just got to have.

The sports collectibles and most of the featured items are listed at the beginning of the list, identified by letters. These items will be featured at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 4. They all carry a reserve price. Once a reserve bid is received that item goes on the clock and will be sold. It is the discretion of the auction staff as to when bidding stops, but the rule of thumb is that the item will sell when no more bids come in within a reasonable amount of time usually mentioned on-air.

The sports collectibles come from Sports Investments, Inc. in Montgomery, Ohio. They come with certificates of authenticity. This includes the fantastic black and white photo of Don Knotts, famous as Barney on the classic Mayberry television series.

Valuable lesson number two is, it is easier and quicker to bid from the audience than to try and get through on the four auction telephone lines.

At 6:30 p.m., each evening, the auction goes live on cable channel 16 or 21, the first board is introduced and bidding begins. The evening usually begins kind of slow and gets frantic as more people tune in and time gets short.

The Kiwanis have a limited amount of airtime and everything has to be offered and sold within that time. Things can move quickly and quite frantically.

Valuable lesson number three is, don’t try and low-ball the price when you bid. You may not be able to get another bid in when things are moving fast. Make a full and honest bid based upon what you believe the item is worth. We remind you of this throughout the auction.

A good rule on making a good bid is four-fifths of the value. If a gift card is worth $25, then a $20 bid is a good bid. That gives Kiwanis $20, and you, if you have the winning bid, get a $5 value for free. But, and it’s a big But, often face value cards and certificate sell for full face value or more.

Valuable lesson number four is, it is a charity auction and all the money is used by Kiwanis in the many programs and projects Kiwanis does during 2010. Therefore, some people will pay more than the value because the money goes for the betterment of the community.

Things to remember:

• Call now to register and receive a bid number. If you forget your number just call and a Kiwanian will look up your number. Bid what the item is worth to you on the first call. Be generous because it is a charity fundraising event. Everyone working the auction is a volunteer so we don’t accept grumpy rude attitudes unless your bid is top dollar over the perceived value…then some of us will bow and praise you as you berate our efforts. It happens. But, usually everyone except for one person treats the Kiwanis’ effort with great respect.

• You can pay for and pick up most items at the Williamstown City Building the night of the auction. It is for charity so if you buy it please pay for it and pick it up. Items that are not picked up Thursday or Friday night can be picked up at Skinner Furniture during business hours, in downtown Williamstown. Items not picked up within 10 days or by prior agreement will be re-sold after we have made multiple attempts to contact the winning bidder.

• A few new additions will be added to the list that will appear in Monday’s Grant County Express. Listen to Dennis Stanley and I go over the list of items this Sunday between 8 and 8:30 a.m. on Northern Kentucky Focus at 106.7 FM, WNKR.

• During the auction you can bid by calling: 824-3606, 824-3633, 824-6351 or 824-4871.

For more information on Kiwanis call Rick Skinner, Membership Chairman, at 823-5421. For more auction information call me here at the Grant County News.

• Your high bid dollar will go toward one of the following projects: Caldwell Educational Nature Trail; two scholarships to students attending a Kentucky university; two scholarships to students attending NKU Grant County; Builders Club for students; 4-H speech contest; Reading Buddy; various parks and recreation programs; foster kids programs; toys for kids visiting the emergency room; programs at North Key and Parkview Manor; breakfast/lunch with Santa; breakfast for Relay for Life; programs for sports and academic teams and many others.

Kiwanis membership and meetings are open to everyone. Visit a meeting. Meetings are noon to 1 p.m. every Wednesday at El Jalisco Mexican Restaurant in Williamstown.

(Ken Stone is publisher of the Grant County News. He can be reached at 859-824-3343 or by email at kstone@grantky.com.)