Don`t tell members of the Countryside Auxiliary of the Children`s Home and Aid Society of Illinois that one person can`t make a difference. What this handful of volunteers from the northwest suburbs lacks in numbers, they make up for in sheer tenacity.
At last weekend`s Kaleidoscope 1992 children`s benefit at the Wyndham Hamilton in Itasca, the conversation around the auction tables centered not only on the diverse appeal of the 91 items up for bids, but on the impressive job these women did in filling both the auction tables and selling in excess of 280 tickets at $75 each.
”These auction items are wonderful. I go to many, many events and chaired one last year but it`s amazing to me that these 10 women could put such a lovely auction together,” said Karen Mehrholz of Chicago. ”This is the best not only for the cause but it`s so terrifically done.”
So alluring were the auction items-including a weekend in Williams Bay on Lake Geneva or a Waterford desk set with clock-that one man was overheard candidly admitting to giving his wife carte blanche to bid on whatever she wanted.
In addition to the auction, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of 1993 Entertainment Coupon Books were targeted for the Children`s Home and Aid Society, a not-for-profit child-care agency founded in 1883 that provides service for 6,000 children and families across the state each year, with 25,000 more calling for information and referrals.
Organizers estimate that this 2nd annual gala will net the children`s agency more than $50,000.
