Find Deep Discounts at Upcoming Auction to Benefit Bollinger Canyon Elementary

Want a discount on a photography session? Or a stay at a swank hotel? What about a steal on a Warriors basketball camp?

Those are a few of hundreds of items and services up for grabs at an auction to benefit . You don't need to have a child enrolled in the school to participate. Just buy a ticket and show up for the dinner and auction at Diablo Country Club on March 26.

With budget cuts from the state's fiscal crisis trickling down to local school districts and each campus, schools have come to rely more and more on fund raisers such as this online auction to pay for basic programs for students.

The school is still looking for businesses to donate goods and services, said Suzy Kasad, a Bollinger Elementary parent and ed fund volunteer.

This will be the school's 12th annual dinner and auction fund raiser, she said. "We host this event to raise money to maintain and enhance the quality of education in our school." 

Despite the school's location in the heart of the city – near Bollinger Canyon Road and Talavera Drive – the school is designated by the state as a "rural school." It earned that designation decades ago, when the San Ramon Valley was sparsely populated ranch land. That means the campus gets some of the lowest per-student funding in the state.

Money raised through the live and online auctions pays for teacher salaries and core programs at the school such as classroom aides, extended librarian hours and drama, music and art classes, Kasad said.

Without additional funds, these teachers and programs simply would not exist," she said.

 If you’re interested:

• Purchase tickets for Bollinger Canyon Elementary School's "An Evening in Tuscany" dinner and auction to be held at 6 p.m. March 26 at Diablo Country Club, 1700 Clubhouse Road in Alamo. Tickets should be bought in advance.
• Donate items to the auction or reserve a table at the live auction. Contact Melanie Dotson from the Bollinger Ed Fund at m2dotson@comcast.net.
• Make a monetary donation to the Bollinger Canyon Elementary School Foundation. All donations are tax deductible and help fund programs at the San Ramon public school.
• Stay on top of the latest news and events about the Bollinger Canyon Ed Fund by adding it on Facebook.
• For a list of business that have donated money, goods or services to the  auction, click here.

Want to promote your school auction? E-mail San Ramon Patch Editor Jennifer Wadsworth at jenniferw@patch.com and we'll get the word out.