EPHRATA — St. Rose of Lima Catholic School will celebrate “Praise and Cheers to 40 years” at its annual fundraiser auction and dinner Nov. 11.

This is the 40th year the school has held the auction, Principal Amy Krautscheid explained, not the school’s 40th year. St. Rose of Lima School has been operating since 1959, according to the Diocese of Yakima’s website.

“The Daughters of Charity opened it to serve the kids at the Air Force Base,” Krautscheid said.

St. Rose has 89 students this year in K-6, plus 21 in the preschool program, Krautscheid said, taught by six teachers. The fundraiser helps close the gap between the tuition charges and the actual cost of educating a child, she added.

“Our mission is to serve every child that wants a Catholic education,” she said. “The goal is to never turn anybody away at the door. But unfortunately, you know, there's just never enough money to go around. Our per-pupil cost is just over $9,000, and our tuition is not even $6,000. The auction makes up the difference, and that's what helps us keep our tuition low and affordable.”

The auction will include a special raise-the-paddle for the Father Kerr Scholarship Fund, named in honor of St. Rose of Lima’s longtime pastor, Fr. Seamus Kerr.

“Fr. Kerr is a beautiful Irish priest,” Krautscheid said. “He is retired now, and he still comes back and joins us. He started this scholarship fund to make sure we never turned kids away.”

The doors open at 5 p.m., and dinner will be served at 6:30. The evening’s theme is black and white, said volunteer Pam Leseman, who said she’s helped coordinate 27 auctions over the last 30 years. That’s the same theme the school used for its 10th auction. Dinner will be catered by Enzo’s Italian Restaurant in Moses Lake. A supporter donated the prime rib, Leseman said. Along with preparing it, the caterer is also bringing a specialty chicken recipe, Krautscheid added.

The evening’s emcee will be Ephrata City Manager Ray Towry. The live auction is being handled by Austin Booker of Booker Auction, with longtime St. Rose supporter Garth Dano serving as spotter, Leseman said. Auction lots include a number of donated parties and outings,. There are several dinners for eight, and a guided hunting trip, and a bunco party for the ladies put on by a couple of St. Rose teachers, with poker for the accompanying gents.

The students themselves have a contribution to the auction as well.

“Our biggest sellers usually are our class projects,” Leseman said. “Each teacher does a project with the kids, top-of-the-line projects (in) wood, pictures, all different kinds of things.”

A hand-made Nativity set made by students sold for $4,500 in 2017, then-auction committee chair Carrie Tatum told the Columbia Basin Herald.

There will be a no-host bar and a silent auction with gift baskets and other items donated by parents and businesses, Leseman said, as well as several raffles. The evening will finish with dancing and music provided by a DJ.

“Our mission is Christ-inspired academic excellence,” Krautcheid said. “And the most beautiful thing about that is that we educate the whole child. We know every child: where they are academically, where they are socially, where they are emotionally, and I can help them no matter where they're at. So we don't let anybody slip through the cracks … The (small) class sizes allow that ability to reach every student at their level. That's kind of one of the most special things about St. Rose.”

    Volunteers get ready to distribute raffle tickets at a previous St. Rose of Lima Catholic School auction. The auction Nov. 11 will include several raffles, organizers said.
  

    Some of the biggest sellers at the St. Rose of Lima Catholic School auction are art projects created by the classes, volunteer Pam Leseman said. This paper-and-wood representation of St. Michael the Archangel giving the Devil a solid drubbing was one of the items at a previous auction.