Sold to the Highest Bidder!

Held for the 2nd year at the Madison Hotel in Morristown on Saturday, March 4th, over 200 parents, faculty members, Trustees and friends gathered for a "Tuscany Evening" of good food, good cheer, and serious bidding on a wondrous assortment of donated treasures.

The theme lent a romantic air to the festivities with chianti bottles on every table and grape leaves festooning the beautifully presented displays. Ticket sales were brisk as guests inspected the gift baskets stuffed with sports items, DVDs, books, cookware, ceramics, beauty products, etc., etc., donated by the parents of each grade. Moving into the silent auction room, people hovered near coveted items in such areas as "Sensational Entertainment" which included theatre tickets, restaurant certificates, and a library of books autographed by such authors as Jimmy Carter, Lauren Bacall, Goldie Hawn, and Caroline Kennedy. There was something for everyone -- for kids, for the home, for sports fans, collectors, wannabe chefs, music lovers, you name it!

Then came the main event -- the live auction with Board Chair, David Kaugher, once more exhorting the crowd to reach into their wallets and purses. Again, the selection was mind-boggling. Golf outings, vacation homes and trips, beauty treatments, fitness equipment, Broadway and the Metropolitan opera, and the very special decorative and art work of the Craig students and faculty. It was a spectacular evening thanks to the incredibly hard work over the past several months of the Craig School parents.

The auction is the major fund-raising effort in addition to the annual fund of the school year. The monies help support the superb educational program at Craig, a program that gives children with learning differences a real chance to succeed both academically and socially. The proceeds provide teachers with professional development opportunities and state-of-the-art classroom equipment such as SmartBoards, computer projectors, and specialized software. Auction dollars help fund the enrichment programs that tuition alone does not cover, the invited speakers and performers, the special trips that enhance the classroom experience, and the supplementary educational materials that take children beyond textbooks.

We thank all who put together this very special evening and who cheerfully emptied their pockets on behalf of the Craig School students.