Ryan Scott Ottney

PDT Staff Writer

Notre Dame School’s annual Bid Your Heart Out auction returns Feb. 16 to the Southern Ohio Medical Center Friends Center. Now in its eighth year, the event offers a catered dinner, wine, dancing, as well as auctions away trips, computers, concert tickets, sports tickets all in an effort to raise money for Notre Dame School.

“The auction is one of the major fundraisers for Notre Dame School, and it benefits Notre Dame Elementary School and Notre Dame Junior and Senior High. The money really goes right back into the schools. It’s used for operating expenses to run programs. Sometimes it’s used to update technology,” said Patty Tennant of the Notre Dame School Development Office.

Items that are auctioned are all donated by the community and local businesses. Some sponsors donate cash which the school uses to purchase additional items and vacations to auction at the event.

“When we started the auction, obviously we did it as a fundraiser but at the same time we wanted it to be a community event. There’s not a lot of events around Valentine’s Day so we’ve sort of stuck with that time of year, and that’s our theme every year,” Tennant said.

The evening begins this year on Saturday, Feb. 16, with appetizers and wine tasting at 5 p.m. at the SOMC Friends Center, followed by dinner at 6 p.m. On the dinner menu is prime rib, chicken or salmon, and everything is included in the cost of a ticket — $50 at the high school or elementary school. The only thing not included in the ticket is how much, if anything, visitors choose to spend on auctions and raffles.

“Some of the items that we’ve had before that are very popular have been the Greenbriar trip, that’s always very popular; a trip to Vermilion, which is up near Sandusky, that’s very popular. We’re going to have Muirfield tickets again, and the University of Notre Dame football tickets on the 50-yard line,” Tennant said.

Other items being auctioned this year include a “build your own trip” to Disney World in Orlando, concert tickets for Maroon 5, Carrie Underwood or Taylor Swift, tickets to the Western and Southern Tennis Classic in Cincinnati and getaway trips to Hawaii, Gatlinburg, San Francisco or New York.

“We usually try to stick to about 25 items in the grand auction, and about 150 in the silent auction,” Tennant said.

Raffles are also available with smaller items available for $10 per ticket entry. Raffles this year include a set of two new iPads, a flatscreen television, and Beats by Dre headphones, and the Notre Dame football tickets. Tennant said the winner of the Notre Dame tickets will be allowed to choose which game to attend, but match-ups against USC and Oklahoma are not available.

“That’s what makes it fun. Some of our trips go for $3,000 or $4,000 dollars and not everyone can afford that, but a raffle you can be there and just buy one raffle ticket and walk home with a really nice prices,” Tennant said.

A Chinese raffle will also offer smaller items, such as a cash prize or gift cards to local restaurants, for only $1 tickets.

After dinner, the grand auction begins at 7:15 p.m., and check out begins at 9:30 with dancing until 11 p.m. Radio host Steve Hayes is Master of Ceremonies, with DJ Jim Schmidt and the auction hosted by Allen’s Auctions of Minford.

For more information about the Bid Your Heart Out auction, or to purchase tickets, contact the Notre Dame High School at 740-353-0719, or the elementary at 740-353-8610, or find them online at notredameschools.com.

Ryan Scott Ottney can be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 287, rottney@civitasmedia.com