A compliment from a friend of mine...

[wondersofwine]

We did have auctions for several years and I auctioned off a couple wine tastings. We raised only about $5,000 a year and the three women that did most of the organizing burnt out after several years of hard work. Originally the money went to help AIDS or HIV-positive patients (with utility bills, medicine and even to put up parents of a dying son at a nearby motel so they could be with their son in his late stages of the disease). Later, our church faced financial difficulties and half the auction money went to the church and half to AIDS. One drawback, our church members are mostly middle class (not wealthy) and our town as a whole is not really wealthy. Merchants (jewelry stores, restaurants, etc.) get hit up for so many charitable causes that they have to set quotas or ration their contributions. This past year we did a yard sale and a lobster dinner sale in place of the auction. Didn't raise as much but supported them through the church rather than hitting up businesses in town.