Annual St. Michael’s Auction April 9th

It supports food pantries in five towns, including Holliston, Millis, Medway, Ashland and Hopkinton, and that’s just a portion of what the proceeds from St. Michael’s Episcopal Church Annual Outreach Auction benefits. The event will take place on Saturday, April 9, from 7-10 p.m., at the church at 1162 Highland Street. Admission is $10 per person, and the event will include raffles, silent and live auctions and hors d’ouerves.
“Almost 50% of our grant money goes toward food. We’re hitting the most basic needs,” says Pamela Pinterparsons, who’s co-chairing the event this year with Annette Hamlin. The outreach of St. Michael’s, she says, aims to support local, national and international causes. Other local causes the church supports are The Millis Fund, as well as two homeless shelters for women, including Shadows in Ashland and Serenity House in Hopkinton (for women in recovery).
“We go into both of those shelters once a month with a prepared meal and sit down with residents and have dinner,” says Pinterparsons, whose daughter worked on an Easter basket project for residents. At Christmas, she says, St. Michael’s parishioners created 60 stockings for the women of these shelters.
St. Michaels also reaches out to students at the Epiphany School in Dorchester, hosting children for three days a week in the summer, feeding and reading to them.
“A lot of kids, if they don’t eat at school, a lot of them don’t eat,” says Pinterparsons, who adds that the church brings these city kids to Hopkinton State Park for a picnic to experience life outside the city.
On the national level, St. Michael’s does a mission trip to the Appalachia Service Project every other year. Pinterparsons says the work is often repairs on a home to make it livable.
“Having done that two years ago, it’s just an amazing experience,” she says. “You don’t have to travel far to see a different lifestyle.”
St. Michaels also gives grants to international causes, supporting the Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia as well as Hearts over Haiti.
“Last year we gave out $11,500 in grants,” she says.
Much of these funds are raised by the annual auction, says Pinterparsons, who is working on the event for her sixth year. She became involved with St. Michaels by running a music program there about 10 years ago.
“This year, we’re really focusing on the magic each one of us brings to this world, how we work to change the world together, locally, nationally and internationally,” she says. Parishioners were asked to donate items or baskets that reflect what they’ve been blessed with.
“We’ve had some really fun ones,” says Pinterparsons, including a “Proper English Tea for 8” from the rector Sarah Robbins Cole, who is married to an Englishman, a “Three Shades of Green” basket from a parishioner who loves to garden, and more. The auction even includes tickets to Circus de Soleil.
St. Michael’s Auction, says Pinterparsons, “is a fun three hours, and the net profits go back to the community,” she says. “You don’t even have to attend the auction to win these; you can just email in your bid to me, your highest and best bid.” The event is not just for the 120 or so families that attend the church, but for all the community. To email a bid, contact Pinterparsons at Pamela@soulspiritstudio.net.
Another auction item includes a Hopkinton YMCA swim membership for the summer.
“If you’re going to do it anyway, why not bid high and have the money go to food pantries and keeping kids off the street?” says Pinterparsons. “Why not just put in a high bid and just see? Another auction item is to rent the barn of the Historical Society. That’s $600. What if you can get it for $450 if you’re going to do it anyway?” All bids are blind bids, with the highest bid winning.
Pinterparsons credits many local businesses with donating wonderful prizes. Folks don’t have to attend the auction to win raffle prizes, either. They can simply send in their raffle money and designate which basket they’d like to put the money toward.
“We have 10 Bewitching Baskets, all themed, and people can just send in a donation, trying for baskets that are worth hundreds of dollars,” she says. Some themes are gardening, beer and wine, family game night and even a meditation basket. Some donors even donate services, such as college readiness training.
For more information on the auction or raffle baskets, or the causes St. Michael’s Auction supports, visit stmichaelshollistonma.org or call (508) 429-4248. Better yet, come to the auction on April 9 at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church. All are welcome.