With the GRACE Gala just a week away, all of our final plans are taking shape. We are at “near-sell-out” status. Eighty tables of ten are platted on the Irving Convention Center diagram, and more than 780 guests have already registered.

Of course, GRACE Chief Executive Officer Shonda Schaefer always succeeds in fitting “a few more tables”, if needed (hint: http://www.gracegala.com to book and register your table/seats).

One of our last tasks is to choose which items to include in our Live Auction. We try to limit the Live Auction portion of the program to just one hour—dancing (The Walton Stout Band) begins right after the auction. We limit our Live Auction to just 12 packages so we can hit the dancefloor!

With dozens of excellent options, it’s a daunting task to determine the 12 to auction. All the others go to our Big Board Auction. And, of course, our Silent Auction has hundreds of exceptional offerings.

We used to be secretive about it, but with the advent of online bidding, anyone the world-over can see exactly what we have to offer. Here is a primer on the GRACE Gala Live Auction:

Blue Danube

Our very good friend, Shannon O’Brien, The Travel Purveyor, has arranged a seven-day cruise of the beautiful blue Danube River. The excursion sets off on October 16, 2022 in Vilshofen, Germany and travels through Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia.

The magic of Old World Europe is around every bend of the famous river. The cruise includes all meals, a nightly cocktail hour, and all tours. American Airlines has donated 125,000 miles to use with this trip, or save for another.

Ted Bilsky

Chef Ted Bilsky has worked with GRACE for many years, catering our activities and participating in special events. (Ted’s a great poker player, by the way. Also, the 4th Annual GRACE Poker Tournament is February 5.)

Chef Ted will work with the winning bidder to create a menu for a private home dinner for 10. His sommelier, Tessa Butterfield, will join him to curate fine wines for the evening.

And there’s more: Gala hosts NBC 5 anchor Laura Harris and GRACE’s Shonda Schaefer will attend to help set the festive mood for the evening.

Naples, FL

Suzanne and Kevin Clift are offering a six-night stay in their newly renovated two-bedroom, two-bath luxury condo in Naples, Florida. Kevin’s management group helps with GRACE’s financial planning.

American Airlines has kicked in 50,000 miles to help with the airfare to the beautiful Florida West Coast!

Grapevine Golf Cars

A GRACE Gala favorite, Terry Hundley of Grapevine Golf Cars is, once again, putting up one of his top-end golf cars for auction.

It’s the ICON I-40-L! Forty-eight volts powerful with all the bells and whistles—head and tail lights, turn signals, digital speedometer, gauges, side mirrors, and seat belts. The four-seater comes in seven colors, and Terry and his crew will deliver this fantastic car anywhere in the DFW Metroplex.

Cowboys

The centerpiece Live Auction package—the one thing you can’t get anywhere else: Your (soon-to-be, and I-hope-this-doesn’t-jinx-it) World Champion Dallas Cowboys have offered us four VIP passes to their 2022 training camp experience in Oxnard, California. PLUS four additional tickets to attend training camp at the Star in Frisco—eight passes in all. The Cowboys are kicking in four (4) VIP Tour Tickets of AT&T Stadium and Cowboys swag.

On top of that, the winning bidder will get certificates for 100,000 American Airlines miles as part of this once-in-a-lifetime deal.

This is just a glimpse of a few Live Auction offerings. More details, and all the Live Auction items are previewed at GRACE Auction.

In fact, Big Board and Silent Auction bidding is now open. Just register and set your highest bid or proxy—Good Luck!