On April 28, 2012, Saint Albert hosted one of its favorite traditions: the Benefit Auction. In its 31 years of existence, the auction has served as the school’s largest fundraiser, raising much-needed money for Saint Albert Catholic Schools.

The theme of this year’s auction was Mardi Gras Masquerade and included a raffle for $10,000 cold, hard cash! Held at the Mid America Center in Council Bluffs, this event included a great blend of new items, such as the Wine Pull, Borsheim Box Bling, and electronic bidding for the silent and super silent auctions, and old favorites, such as the Cajun Card Game, Freddie Falcon Award, and a night filled with friends, family, and high bids!

The Freddie Falcon Award honors individuals who support Saint Albert through hands-on efforts in fundraising and leadership in various projects that benefit the school. This year’s recipients of the Freddie Falcon Award were Matt (’84) and Lisa Gronstal. Active in fundraising, Matt is in his ninth year of serving on the Saint Albert Educational Foundation, three years of which he served as President, and Lisa successfully co-chaired the small games and raffles, including the Wine Pull, Borsheim Box Bling, Making Groceries Hy-Vee Raffle, and Cajun Card Game, for this year’s auction. The Gronstals chaired the 2009 Auction, ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game.’ Matt and Lisa are also avid Scrip participants, members of Saint Patrick’s Parish, and volunteers for numerous other fundraisers. Most importantly, Matt and Lisa are parents to four current Saint Albert students.

Saint Albert’s Mardi Gras celebration included bright beads, laughter, colorful floats, fabulous items, the Falcon Faithful, and Mardi Gras Masks! This year, Darin and Teresa Hecker, the 2012 Chairs, asked the guests to bring SA Style to Mardi Gras, starting with their masks! Turner Morgan was crowned the winner for the male mask contest and received a $250 gift certificate to Men’s Warehouse. Tracy Andrews won the female mask contest and received a $250 gift certificate to Definition’s Spa.

In addition to the mask contest, the $10,000 Cash Raffle announced its winners Saturday night. Jerry Fleshman, who attended the event, walked away with the grand prize of $10,000! Longtime supporter and current Saint Albert parent, Margie Johnson, won second prize of $1,500, and Louis Thomas of Omaha won third prize of $1,000.

The 2012 Auction also featured new and improved technology – a new electronic bidding system for the silent and super silent auctions and a Technology Break during the live auction to raise money for new laptop notebooks for our students. What a wonderful impact this emphasis on technology had! The silent and super silent auctions raised significantly more than in past years with the use of the new bidding devices, and the technology break raised over $10,000 for our school and our students!

This year’s auction enjoyed many great successes – successes made possible by the tremendous organizational and management skills of Teresa and Darin Hecker, the 2012 Chairs. Their contagious enthusiasm and passion for this event and our school made this auction a fantastic event.

A sincere thanks to all our chair couple, assistant chairs Jeff and Carrie Nelson, mentor chair Theresa Martin, volunteers, and guests for joining us for the 2012 Auction and celebrating Catholic education. The 2012 Benefit Auction and its proceeds will help uphold the outstanding traditions of academic excellence and strong spirituality at Saint Albert. Thank you all for attending and supporting our school, our mission, and our students.

St. Albert Catholic Schools