Gala, grand auction coming to St. Thomas More Parish

Event a wrap-up to National Catholic Schools Week

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BROOKINGS – It’s looked at to be a fitting finale to the final day of National Catholic Schools Week 2019: the St. Thomas More Catholic School Winter Gala & Grand Auction on Saturday, Feb. 2.

And planners Meghan Kelly and Karman Brinkman are confident enough that there will be similar such events in years to come that they’re also billing the event as the “first annual.”

Kelly is the school director; Brinkman serves on the school advisory council, substitute teaches and has a daughter in the first grade. She has done galas at several other Catholic schools.

The evening’s events include:

 6 p.m. Social hour and silent auction

 7 p.m. Dinner, catered by 1481 Grille, with a menu that includes beef brisket and bourbon-glazed pork chops. “Adult beverages” will be available via a beer bar from Wooden Legs Brewing Company and a wine bar, sponsored by Catholic United Financial, selling bottles and wine by the glass   

 8:30 p.m. Live auction

Kelly and Brinkman are still in the process of deciding which items for which auction. Items to go on the block include: several gift cards to local businesses; gift baskets; specialty toys for children and families; handcrafted items such as quilts; massages; special handmade items from class projects of the preschool, junior kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade; Vikings football tickets; South Dakota State University basketball tickets; Black Hills vacation package; concert tickets; overnight trips; family entertainment; meat packages and much more.

For entertainment, there will be live music played by a jazz ensemble from SDSU.

As to giving the STM church hall a gala look, that’s in the hands of Hitch Studio, a designer in downtown Brookings.

“It’s going to look gorgeous in here,” Brinkman said. “It’ll look completely transformed. We are doing kind of a winter theme. There’ll be white tablecloths on all the tables and a lot of silver and gold and snowflakes and frosted greenery.”

One large fundraiser

The two organizers said the genesis for the winter gala came from other Catholic schools that have staged similar such events.

“It grew out of need for the school,” Brinkman explained. “In order for our Catholic schools to continue to grow by adding grades and also continue to maintain and sustain what we’ve began, there has to be an incoming dollar through fundraising.” 

Instead of doing several small fundraisers, the decision was made to put on one large fundraiser.

“We wanted to do something that was going to be a fundraiser for the school but would involve the entire parish or even outward of the community,” she added, “and be a parish-building or community-building event rather than just a straight, normal traditional fundraiser.

“We wanted it to be something where the parish at large could come together and have a community-building event while supporting the school.”

 “All are welcome from the community,” Kelly said. “This is not just the school families or just a parish event. But we welcome all people from the community to join us.

“I always think people feel really good about giving back in a way that they’re really much more involved in something, in an event, in an opportunity to dress up and have a date night and then support a great cause at the same time.”

She noted that all the money raised would go back to the school: “directly to our classroom, to our students and teachers, toward everything that’s happening here. We’re lucky enough to have a catholic school here and to be growing.”

There are a total of about 80 students in the four classes that make up the STM school.

Tickets for the gala are $75 each; a reserved table for eight can be booked for $600. The hall has seating for 260. For ticket information and for additional information about being an event sponsor, sponsoring a teacher or donating to the auction, call the church office at 692-4361.

Contact John Kubal at jkubal@brookingsregister.com.