A Great Night
By John Cragg, Executive Director

The Harvest Auction will take place on Oct. 6th.  When you drive up the private road of the de Seversky Center at 5:30pm, you will know you are stepping back into an era of opulence. The valet will take your car in the circular drive. Our staff will be expecting you.  No tickets will be needed. Music and laughter will reach the thick crown moldings that frame the elegance that surrounds you. It is time to relax and explore the mansion that is yours for then evening.

You will begin by enjoying seven different hors d’oeuvres as you peruse the Silent Auction items.  These items will be displayed on tables where you will be invited to place your assigned number next to your bid.  You will want to be sure to watch the bid sheets of the items you most desire to take home.  Friendly competition can be expected and is a lot of fun. Duels, however, are forbidden. The Silent Auction gets especially fast paced shortly before its close.

Before you know it, dinner will be served and you will be invited to go to the ballroom. Victor Scognamiglio, who Co-Chairs this auction with his wife Laura, and the chef have planned a feast.  A program telling of some of our history and work will be intermingled with our premiere event, the MAIN AUCTION.  At the Main Auction, larger items and rare opportunities are presented.  The Auction Committee members have traveled across our Island and up into New England to network with friends and business associates in order to acquire these incredible finds.

We realize that the 250+ items can be overwhelming.  So we will have a preview available on our website two days before the event. However, some items are already up and new items are added almost daily. LIyouthmentoring.org

Why an auction? There are 35 foster homes on Long Island. They are licensed and funded by our tax money through the state. Yet 60% of the orphans who leave these homes at age 18 end up homeless. This statistic is not even measuring if they are thriving. It measures if they can eek out an existence with a roof over their head. And even with this low thresh hold, we are successful only 40% of the time. This is not raising up our children in the way they should go. You may say….they are not my children. What am I to do. I am struggling in raising my own.

You would be right. They are not your children, and they are not mine. But they are God’s. He claims to be the Father of the fatherless. He let’s us know how highly he ranks their care in His word. James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

This is a crisis in our own back yard. Girls are walking the streets and boys are sleeping in the brush alone our parkways. We are currently working to develop partnerships between these homes and churches in order to help prepare these children for life and to just plain love them. Each home has between 3 and 12 children. Can a church take care of the 100,000 orphans in our country? Can your church care for 3-12 who live a mile down the road?

On October 6th, saints will gather to have fun and enjoy the evening as they give abundantly to this work. It is expected to raise a quarter of the funds needed to do this work. Call 631-242-5101 to express your desire to be in that number.†   Learn More About The Auction

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