Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Service Auction

About 6 years ago I was called to be the Enrichment Counselor in my ward Relief Society. This made me laugh because I had been a sporadic attendee to this ward's Enrichment meetings. But, this was what I was supposed to do and I realize now what a growing experience it was for me. At one of our stake training meetings I was given a bunch of great ideas for Enrichment meetings; one of them being the Service Auction. It was a big undertaking but decided to go for it. My committee and I made paper money, put together about 70 bidding paddles, came up with a questionnaire and made dinner for about 70 people. Of course, any time you are in charge of a big event, you are worried things might not work out the way the are supposed to but the whole night was a success. Everyone that attended brought either an item that they had made or filled out a service coupon to auction off. Then everyone filled out a questionnaire that gave them points towards "service money". Some of the ways to earn "money" were "5 points for each load of laundry you have done this week" or "15 points if your Visiting Teaching is done" "20 points if you've been married for 25 years or more" "10 points if you've had FHE every week this month". You get the picture. So after all your points are added up, you trade them in for "money" and then the bidding began. Our RS Pres was the auctioneer (Karen, who is one of my greatest friends now) and people really got into the bidding. Everyone left with at least one or two items and a great memory. So, the next year, we held the 2nd annual Service Auction.

Saturday night I attended the 5th annual Service Auction. This is still one of the favorite activities for the sisters in the ward and we all look forward to it. I took some Christmas Cards that I made and a board with vinyl lettering that says "Believe". I ended up coming home with a plate of cookies, homemade salsa (with chips), a cute pink baby blanket and, my favorite, a coupon for a sister in our ward to clean my house!!!! I also came home bouyed by the friendships I have with the women in my ward and the love they show to me. I'm so glad that this has become a tradition in our ward, despite all the changes in the RS presidencies, everyone knows that this is an event that can't be missed! I'm already looking forward to next year's auction!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You never told me that you started the "Annual Wells Ward Service Auction!" It is my favorite activity. I always leave with a ton of stuff. LOVE IT!!! My little sister was looking for ideas for her ward's enrichment and I suggested this. She is worried that people won't get it and it will be a flop. Any suggestions for marketing the first annual?

Kathleen said...

Tell her to really hype it up and make sure the committee is really excited and on board. It is scary the first time and you have to explain that you don't need money and blah blah blah but just have a lot of positive marketing around it and it will be great!

Katie C said...

Hi-
I googled enrichment service auction and your blog was the first thing to pop up. Hope that you don't mind that I'm commenting. But, I have two questions. How did you make the paddles, and would you do them differently now? And, could you just use monopoly money, or what how did you do the money? We are playing bingo to earn our points, so as not to offend anyone that hasn't been married or doesn't go to church often. You know what I mean. I'd be interested if you have any further suggestions of what your ward does now that works for the auction. My email is katiechase21@gmail.com, if you don't mind dropping me a quick note.
Thanks,Katie

Unknown said...

We did a service auction and actually based everything on points. Too many people don't have the money to enjoy something like this other than the dinner, so we just did it on a points scale. They had to fill out a questionaire and add up their points. It worked GREAT!

Kathleen said...

We did a points scale, too. People earned points by different services they offered during the previous months, plus a few other things. Then we gave them fake money based on their points so it actually felt like a real auction!

Ashlee said...

Hi! I too found your blog! We are doing (our first-we'll see how it goes for the future) auction in my ward Enrichment in a couple weeks. I'm on the board and wondering..do you ever have problems of people attending and not going home with a service? has that been a problem? do people go home with more than one? do you have people donate more than one? Do you have to keep track of points? or do you do it on an honor system or with money?! Sorry for all the questions! My e-mail is haircuttingqueen@yahoo.com
Thanks a bunch!

Sonia said...

Thanks for sharing, I will bookmark and be back again
Auction Ideas