The Jefferson College Foundation’s annual Spring Auction is right around the corner.
Online bidding will begin at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, April 28, and will end the evening of Saturday, May 4, when an in-person event will be held from 5-8 p.m. in the Field House on the Hillsboro campus. Tickets for the in-person event cost $50.
Those who attend that event may continue to compete in the online auction, as well as take part in the live auctions reserved for attendees. People who don’t attend in person may still bid online during the May 4 event.
Online participants must sign up for the auction.
“Go to Jeffco.edu, click ‘Giving,’ then ‘Event’ to register,” said Blake Tilley, the foundation’s executive director. “They need to register, for free, to access the auction.”
Proceeds from the auction will support the school’s veterinary technology building construction project, he said.
The 7,400-square foot vet tech center will be built on the Hillsboro campus and will cost about $3 million.
The foundation is working to raise funds for the project, Tilley said.
“We’re pursuing our $1 million goal by the end of 2024,” he said. “We’re hoping to raise $50,000 with the auction.”
Tilley said the foundation is seeking donations of items for the auction. The deadline to donate items is Friday, April 19.
“We’re hoping the auction is bigger than last year’s when we raised about $40,000,” Tilley said.
In prior years, auction proceeds were used help students through scholarships, emergency grants, book store grants and other college-related funding requests, he said.
Tilley said the auction already has some items that will surely catch people’s attention.
“We’ve got a handmade knife with a leather sheath,” he said. “We’ve got Cardinals tickets. We are going to have a fire pit made by our welding department. We’ll auction a side of beef.”
Other special auction items include dog- and cat-shaped metal cutouts made by Jefferson College welding students, Tilley said.
The cutouts will be auctioned off exclusively for guests at the May 4 event, Tilley said.
The in-person event includes dinner and live music from the college’s Jazz Band, as well as raffles. A Fund-A-Future fundraising activity will be held, too.
“Fund-A-Future is where someone makes a one-time donation for the future of an individual vet tech student,” Tilley said. “Our vet tech students and some animals will be there.”
To donate an auction item or for more information, call Laura at 636-481-3105.