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INUVIK
Invuik residents were transported to Italy this past weekend after stepping into the Royal Canadian Legion for East 3 School's Italian dinner and auction.

Margaret E. Gordon, left, and Paula Guy serve up salads, roasted potatoes, pasta and chicken parmigiana to hungry guests at the library fundraiser. - Miranda Scotland/NNSL photo

Guests buzzed around the hall, which was masked in red, green and white decorations, taking time to look at each of the 75 silent auction items laid out on tables around the room.

Event organizer and school librarian Cynthia Whelan said she was very impressed by everyone's generosity. The school raised $17,000 over the course of the night. Whelan said the funds will be used to buy new books for the library.

The books from Sir Alexander MacKenzie School and Samuel Hearne Secondary School are housed at East 3 but there is a lot of empty space because the new library is bigger, Whelan said.

"We have a lot more room and a lot more empty bookshelves to fill," she said. "This fundraiser will help us to do that."

This is the second year the school has done the fundraiser. Last year, organizers raised more than $20,000 to purchase new books. Whelan said there are plans to host a similar event next year because the first two have been so successful.

"It was a good evening," Whelan said, adding the 90-plus guests seemed to enjoy themselves. "We've heard nothing but good comments on the food, the auction items."

Kathy Arthur said she heard about the event from the rolling channel and was glad she came.

"It was beautifully done," she said, adding the organizers paid a lot of attention to detail. "The food was delicious and there were more things to bid on than I've ever experienced."

Arthur spent most of the night eyeing a luxury carry-on suitcase up for auction. When East 3 secondary school vice-principal Chris Gilmour called out of the names of the silent auction winners, Arthur was pleased to find she was among them. She said she planned to use the bag on her next trip.

Meanwhile, her friend Branka Stefanac was happy to take home a snowman painting, a Christmas bowl, gift cards for gas, a tool box and a beautiful Christmas music box, which she planned to give to her six-year-old granddaughter.

Later on in the evening, things heated up when 11 big ticket items were brought out for Gilmour to auction off live. Some of the items included was an iPad Mini, a Kindle Fire, 50,000 Aeroplan miles, a 30-minute helicopter ride for up to four people and a weekend getaway to Ya-ya Lake. The highest bid was for two First Air return tickets from Inuvik to Edmonton, which sold for $2,200.

The majority of the auction items were donated by businesses or residents.

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