For more information, contact Darnell Holopirek, 620-792-9367.

July 15, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Story by: Linda Jerke

Purchase Tickets Now for ‘A Night in Napa’

Like good wine, the Barton Community College Foundation’s Big Benefit Auction just keeps getting better with age. In 32 years, many people have put in a lot of effort to make that happen, said Darnell Holopirek, Barton’s Executive Director of Institutional Advancement, as the Foundation prepares for this year’s event with the theme, “A Night in Napa.” The auction is the Foundation’s main fund-raiser for academic scholarships and program enhancements.

Tickets will go on sale Monday, July 19, for the 32nd Annual Big Benefit Auction set for Saturday, Aug. 28, at the Highland Hotel and Convention Center, 3017 10th Street, in Great Bend. The doors will open at 6 p.m. and the live auction will begin at 8 p.m. In keeping with the Napa theme, a Pasta Buffet will be served from 6 to 8 p.m.

The price of tickets is $30 per person or $240 for a table of eight, said Cheryl Rugan, who with her husband, Robert, serves as honorary co-chair of the event. Ticket sales will continue through Aug. 16 and tickets will not be sold at the door. Tickets can be purchased by contacting the Foundation Office by phone, 620-786-1136, or by e-mail, capec@bartonccc.edu.

As ticket sales continue, the Foundation and the Highland Hotel will co-host a Chamber After Hours event from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, July 30, at Chaser’s located in the hotel. This will be an event to get people excited about “A Night in Napa.” “We’ll kick off the auction and ‘get the buzz going,’” Cheryl said.

The chamber event also will give people an opportunity to see some of the items. “If someone wants to know about a certain item they want to bid on, it’s a chance for them to ask questions,” Holopirek said.

“We do have a great group of supporters,” she continued. “We always have new attendees and we have people who wait for this event every year. It’s become a social event. It’s not only fun, but they know that what they purchase or donate goes to a good purpose.”

With the acquisition phase completed, the auction catalog is now being assembled listing the silent and live auction items. The silent auction will have more than 150 items, including merchandise, gift certificates, food, handcrafted items, works of art, tools, gift baskets, clothing and services such as lawn care and trash removal.

Of the 42 pieces provided for the live auction, items include an expandable walnut-finish wine bar; a round of golf for three at Hutchinson’s Prairie Dunes, rated by Golf magazine as one of the top 20 golf courses in the world; a Cuisinart 16-bottle wine cellar; one-half side of beef locally grown; a private wine tasting party for eight at the Smoky Hill Winery with the winners taking home a case of their favorite wine; and a table made from flooring from the Allen Field House at KU.

Also included are a tour of Napa Valley in California (three nights stay and airfare); four days and four nights in Branson; an English Springer Spaniel and training; a dessert each month for one year; a handcrafted oak bookcase; a one-week stay at a vacation home in Scottsdale, Ariz.; a LaFrasa bench and end table for the patio or porch; a Traeger grill; two tickets to the Big 12 Championship Game Dec. 4 at Dallas’s Cowboy Stadium; dinner for eight catered by Kim Randall in the purchaser’s home; and an Old Town Wine Walk in Wichita, wine tasting at Beyond Napa, a one-night stay at the Old Town Marriott and dinner for two at the Uptown Bistro.

“We’ve really had some unique gifts,” Holopirek said. “People just share their talent. Barton art instructor Bill Forst, for example, gives a beautiful ceramic vase, and many other talented people go to work to support the auction each year.”

The auction also has sponsors and underwriters who provide funds for some of the auction items and other costs of the event. Major sponsors for the auction are Central Kansas Medical Center, Great Bend Regional Hospital, BMI, Great Bend Farm Equipment and Farmers Bank and Trust.

Auction underwriters are L&M Contractors, Jim and Kathi Armatys, Clara Barton Hospital, CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Alliance Insurance Group Inc., Roto-Mix, Central States Alfalfa, Cal-Maine Foods of Kansas; and Hoelscher Commercial Products. Carr Auction and Real Estate, Larned, will conduct the live auction.

A highlight of each Big Benefit Auction is the Old Bill Honorarium. This year the honorarium is named in honor of M.E. “Eustace” Marmie, who was a regional community leader with his business, Marmie Motors, and provided civic leadership and support for the College and community as well. The honorarium named after the old buffalo head known as “Old Bill” has helped raise money for scholarships for the past 30 years.

Over the years, M.E. Marmie helped the College in many ways. The honorarium honors not only him, but also his children, Dave Marmie, Jerry Marmie and Karen Becker, who have continued the leadership that he began long ago in this community. “We’re honoring their father and also their continuing support of the College,” Holopirek said. All money donated for the M.E. “Eustace” Marmie Honorarium will be used for scholarships in the 2011-12 academic year.

Honorary Co-chairs of the auction, the Rugans received the benefits of scholarships at Barton. They graduated from Barton in 1988 and went on to earn four-year degrees from Wichita State University. Today Robert is vice president of American State Bank and Cheryl is a CPA, now a stay-at-home mom.

“Cheryl and I both were scholarship recipients at Barton,” said Robert. “We’d like to see that last on into the future with our children, Wyatt and Olivia. We’re hoping they go to school here in the next six to eight years.”

Cheryl has special family memories from years past at Barton. “All of my siblings, my sister, Cindy, and my brother, Ryan, went to Barton,” she said.

“It was a family thing. Robert and I and Wyatt and Olivia sit in the same reserved basketball seats that I sat in when I grew up with my family. It is very special and we love to be able to honor my dad (Rod Dunlap) and my brother (Ryan) through auction items that we have donated. They would be proud to see their names in that program.”

Like the Rugans, Holopirek said, a lot of people have put in a big effort over the years to make sure the auction keeps getting better and better. Now coming into its 32nd year, the Big Benefit Auction is the Foundation’s longest running and biggest fund-raiser.