Just about every charity these days, it seems, is trying to pay its bills with an auction.
So, the folks at the Cape Fear Literacy Council decided to try something different. This year, the council — which provides free, confidential tutoring to more than 400 adults each year in the Cape Fear area — is taking its annual “Bid for Literacy” auction online. Between Feb. 14 and March 7, you’ll be able to visit the council’s Web site — . — view the items being offered and place bids on them. Of course, until March 7, someone might top your bid, so you’ll want to revisit regularly and make a counter-offer. For example, you can take the “Fighter Pilot for a Day” experience, riding in the cockpit of a supersonic jet, just like “Top Gun.” Or you can ride a hot-air balloon. Or spend a week in a spacious apartment at Antibes, on the French Riviera, where the Duke and Duchess of Windsor used to hang out. Or attend the Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. Or take a wine-tasting tour of California’s Napa Valley. Or sit by the Gulf in beautiful Cancun. Or just shoot skeet for a day. Other items include movie memorabilia autographed by Kevin Costner, tickets to a Jimmy Buffet concert in Las Vegas, dinner with Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo, an authentic Indian dinner for four, a behind-the-scenes tour of the Battleship North Carolina Memorial (including the places the tourists don’t go), works by local artists and tickets to the April 9 Hurricanes-Sabres game. The council is still going ahead with its Mardi Gras “Casino Night” event, March 7 at the Coastline Convention Center, with music, food, beer, wine, spirits and mock-Vegas-style casino games with “funny money.” (You can still win prizes.) Tickets are $50. For more information on the online auction, Casino Night or other games, call the Literacy Council at 251-0911, or visit the Literacy Council office at 1012 South 17th St.
The Cape Fear Literacy Council offers instruction in adult literacy, basic reading, writing and math skills, as well as spoken English. Most of its instructors are unpaid volunteers, but the Council still needs money for books and instructional materials, tutor training and recruitment and ordinary upkeep.