Assessing the tremendous turnout and generosity during Saturday night’s Holy Rosary Gala, event coordinator Sonia McNealy was thrilled with the results.The annual benefit dinner and auction drew nearly 300 people and is expected to have yielded an all-time high in fundraising for the school. Over $33,000 was brought in from the silent and oral auctions alone, not including the many separate raffles and ticket sales.“It was fantastic,” said McNealy. “We had one of the largest turnouts we’ve ever had. The evening was very successful.”With around 290 tickets sold at $55 each, another $16,000 was generated from attendance alone. McNealy says these numbers are not final and that expenses still must be extracted to determine the net profit.“We don’t have those final totals just yet, but I’m confident we exceeded last year’s event,” said McNealy, who adds that much of the proceeds will go toward helping the school install new flooring. All of the proceeds go toward the Holy Rosary School in one capacity or another.“Every year we pick something that needs improvement in the school,” said McNealy. “We were very fortunate to have someone donate the labor to install the flooring.”The evening began with the silent auction, followed by dinner. The oral auction took place, and the evening was concluded as a dessert and coffee bar gave way to a performance by the band “My Friend Mike.”The largest oral auction item was a trip to Belize, which sold for $3,300. A wine country excursion drew $2,250 and Party on the Prairie Packet sold for $2,000.“We’re so thankful for the support in the community and everybody that comes,” said McNealy. “It wouldn’t be possible without the volunteers at the school.”The naming rights for the Holy Rosary gymnasium were purchased by Roger and Andrea Romaker. The facility will be named the Tyler Romaker Memorial Gymnasium for the next two years, as an anonymous bidder donated a second year.A free year’s tuition was also raffled off, with Hannah Wichern winning and donating to her brother, who is a student.“We have one of the lowest tuitions in the St. Louis area,” said McNealy. “You just don’t see this type of fundraising at this level.”

Guests survey the items up for bid during the silent auction at Holy Rosary School on Saturday. The fundraiser resulted in $33,000 in proceeds from the silent and oral auctions alone to go toward upgrades at the school and to help lower tuition. 

Record photo/Derrick Forsythe