Gala Auction items to include deep-sea fishing

Guided deep-sea fishing off the coast of California is among the items currently available for bid online and at the Northwestern College Alumni Association’s 26th annual Gala Auction on Saturday, Feb. 7.

Items on the popular silent auction will be available for browsing and bidding beginning at 3:30 p.m. in the Rowenhorst Student Center (RSC) Mini-Gym on the 7th. The traditional verbal auction begins at 7 in the Mini-Gym.

This year’s auction already includes hundreds of items that can be browsed and bid on at www.nwciowa.edu/auction.

Tickets for California’s LEGOLAND theme park and Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo are on the block. A week of camping and boating in northern Minnesota will also be up for bid.

Buy a Magnavox Blu-ray disc player, iPod touch, or TomTom GPS system. Sport enthusiasts can bid on tickets for the Iowa Hawkeyes, Kansas City Chiefs or Minnesota Twins. Food lovers may go home with Jamaican coffee and Caribbean rum cakes or certificates for Pizza Ranch pizza and Wells Blue Bunny ice cream.

Visit the auction website, www.nwciowa.edu/auction, to search for specific items of interest and to bid online if you can’t attend on Feb. 7.

But come in person if you can, encourages Jenny Neuhauser, Northwestern’s alumni director. “The live bidding is exciting, and it’s the only way you can be sure you’ll get the items you want,” she says. “More than that, it’s just a great party for people who love Northwestern.”

Auction proceeds support scholarships, student life programs and teaching excellence at Northwestern. Last year’s auction raised over $30,000; 47 students received $1,000 Alumni Association scholarships for this school year.

As a warm-up to the auction, Northwestern fans are invited to watch the Red Raider basketball teams take on the Concordia Bulldogs Saturday afternoon. Both games will be in the Bultman Center; the women play at 2 p.m., the men play at 4.

A pre-auction meal of pizza will be served in the RSC gym beginning at 5:15 p.m. The cost is $5 for adults and $3 for kids age 6-12; children under 5 eat free. Free refreshments will be available during the auction.

Childcare is available beginning at 6 p.m. by students raising support for Spring Service Project trips. Parents can pre-register at 712-707-7134 or alumni@nwciowa.edu, or register the night of the auction.

Bidders’ books with a complete listing of the items will be available beginning Monday, Jan. 26, at the RSC desk, Orange City businesses and MJ’s Sinclair in Sioux Center.