Good cents for the cause: Get ready to place bids for baskets, gift certificates, handmade prizes

You can’t even buy a gumball with a penny these days, but small change could make you a big winner at Saturday’s Moran United Methodist Church Penny Auction. This warp-speed fundraiser features silent bidding combined with a series of quick-draw raffles, that edge-of-your-seat excitement, delivering more than 200 prize baskets, gift certificates and handcrafted treasures to winners in just under two hours’ time.

“We wanted to create a mission outreach where our church, businesses and our community members could bond together in a positive, fun, united effort of giving to those in need,” said event organizer, Jeanie Cook, part of the event since 1998. Back then, it was a small church affair complete with baked potato bar. The auction was a big hit with locals and moved to the Southside Community Center, where it has been attracting standing-room-only crowds for 19 years.

“Whatever people give, literally goes back in,” said Cook, clearly moved by the generous donations from church members, friends and local businesses, which have helped raise more than $120,000 for mission outreach over the years. Those funds benefit Shalom Ministries, Second Harvest Inland Northwest, Crosswalk Spokane and a host of other charitable causes in the area.

Adrenaline seekers can leave the copper at home. Bids are placed with paper tickets purchased in quantities of 200 to 2,000. This year’s batch of 60,000 numbered slips the result of a socially distanced pandemic parking lot operation over two years ago, as church volunteers with nimble fingers attempted to get a handle on that massive cutting job. “We try and get that all done, so that we’re all through cutting pennies (tickets) by the time spring comes and people want to be outside,” said Ardis Storms, assisting an assembly line of workers who sort bins of donations, filling, wrapping and labeling each auction basket.

“Oh my gosh, there is lots of work,” said Yvonne Fisher, volunteering with her husband, Raymond, after 10 years of tossing tickets into draw tubs themselves. “We decided this year, just to give them a helping hand, because we love going to the penny auction so much,” said Fisher, who is assigning names to themed baskets along with Storms, those titles including, Snuggle Baby, Happy Dog and Sunny Bunny.

With 200-plus auction items to consider, those attending should allow plenty of time to explore the rich maze of offerings, including handmade quilts, household items and treats for sports fans, those long lines pausing frequently as bidders attempt to separate tiny tickets or plot strategies for snagging a coveted basket. Most wins likely a combination of luck, dollars spent and a bit of help from above. My own tiered sprinkle method typically fallsi several baskets short of the big ticket dump approach adopted by repeat winners, their tables swimming in a sea of cello wrap and prizes shortly after the drawings begin. “Our strategy was put a little bit in each and every basket,” Fisher said. “And, you buy lots of them. You buy at least $100 worth,” she added. “We personally don’t, but other people I’ve known buy about $100 or more,” said Fisher.

No matter your bidding budget, at 1 p.m., with tickets exhausted and fingers weary, it’s showtime! “One o’clock on the nose, we begin what we call silent auction winners and rapid fire calling,” Cook said. Draw. Deliver. Repeat. A celebratory mixture of megaphones, victory paddles and cheers. Basket or no basket, those pennies mere pocket change for a wealth of goodwill.