Press Release Sent 12/03/09:

Fresno Right to Life Hosts one of Nation's Largest Charity Auctions
Honoring Jadine MacLiver & Greg Romagnoli

FRESNO, CA – More than 800 people and over one thousand silent auction items will fill the Ernest E. Valdez Hall at the Fresno Convention Center December 4th for Right to Life's annual Christmas Dinner and Auction.

The auction will honor Jadine MacLiver and her late husband Greg Romagnoli who passed away suddenly this year. Greg and Jadine were involved with Fresno Right to Life for years, with Jadine serving as our Mistress of Ceremonies for last year's auction, and Greg serving on the board of directors for ten years.

This year’s auction includes a brand new check-in and check-out system using 14 computers and 8 credit card terminals. As we prepared this system that is used by many other charitable auctions across the country, they asked us how many supporters we’re expecting as well as how many items will be sold. When they heard our numbers, they couldn’t believe their ears, and told us that we are running one of the largest charity auctions in the entire country!

The event will benefit the Right to Life of Central California Education Fund. With offices in Fresno and Visalia, RLCC is the largest regional pro-life organization in the western United States. "Our education priorities include using new media to reach youth. We're talking about the sanctity of life, the importance of sexual purity and adoption in ways that other pro-life organizations aren't doing yet, using YouTube and a cutting edge podcast," noted Education Director Josh Brahm. "We focus on training people to have effective dialogues with people that disagree with them, as well as recognizing faulty arguments from both sides of the abortion issue. That's why we even have pro-choice fans," Josh chuckled. "Thanks to new media, we're reaching a global audience of over 200,000 people a year."

One of the unique aspects of this event is the expense budget is minimal - all items for silent and live auction were donated by the community.

More than 1,000 donated silent auction items will be up for bid throughout the evening. Solicited by a committee headed by Dottie DeMera, they range from home decorations to sports memorabilia, and hot ticket items this holiday season include an XBox 360 console, Beatles Rock Band for XBox 360, Andrea Bocelli tickets and a custom website layout and design worth $1,700. Another 20 Live Auction items include vacations to Costa Rica and Disneyland, romantic getaways to Las Vegas, and gift certificates to wine tasting events all over Central California.

For over 22 years, RLCC has been a leader in peaceful, legal activities to protect human lives threatened by abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. RLCC will continue to work through educational activities to ensure the right to life for unborn children, people with disabilities and the infirm and elderly. This includes our annual 40 Days for Life prayer vigil, as well as a globally-heard podcast, YouTube videos, educational presentations and campus outreach. For more information, please visit FresnoProLife.org.

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