11/4/2009 10:55:02 AM

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By Christina Killion Valdez

Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN 

Kind of like a class reunion, the annual Lourdes Auction, which this year marks 30 years, brings out familiar faces and school spirit.

	If you go What: The 30th annual Lourdes Auction When: Saturday. The silent auction and dinner buffet from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Live auction at 8 p.m. Where: Lourdes High School, 621 West Center St., Rochester Tickets: $25, tables of 10 available for $350. Advance reservations recommended, call 272-5271 or 951-1266.

"I think this gives parents at Lourdes High School an opportunity to make a huge difference for the students at the school," said Barb DeCramer, development associate for Rochester Catholic Schools. "It's a chance to give back."

Over the past three decades the event has raised more than $1 million for program enhancements, library projects and repairs, she said.

Then there's the camaraderie. Families from all of the Rochester Catholic Schools as well as past parents come back year after year, she said.

"It's fun to reconnect," DeCramer said. "It's like a big school reunion."

Also returning year after year are some prestigious donors, including Dr. Nicholes Psimos, who each year donates wisdom teeth removal, DeCramer said.

Plus, this year Bill and Carrie Adamson will be recognized as 30-year donors, she said, noting that each year Adamson Motors donates a car. This year it's a 1992 Plymouth Acclaim.

Students also get involved in the auction, including the Center Street Singers, which will donate their voices to an event hosted by the highest bidder. The dance team and cheer leaders will also donate their time for children's parties.

Also on the auction block will be Gophers football tickets, a spring break trip to a villa that sleeps eight in Kissimmee, Fla., dinner at Vince and Mary Herring's Rochester garden grotto, Oak Ridge Boys concert tickets, antique furniture, vacation weeks in Mazatlan, Mexico, and Palm Beach, Fla., and a summer pool party for 25. Among the silent auction items will be a variety of gift certificates and gift baskets.

Tickets are also being sold for two raffles to take place that night. One is for a year's tuition for one student at any one of the Catholic schools. One hundred tickets will be sold at $100 each. A diamond ring from Rochester Lapidary Jewelers will also be raffled. Tickets are $25. Raffle tickets are available at the Rochester Catholic Schools offices. You do not have to be present to win.

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