View source for From Barbados To Shopping Spree, Items At Auction To Help WXEL

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| publication = Sun-Sentinel
| file = 1987-04-02 Sun Sentinel.jpg
| px = 650
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| date = 1987-04-02
| author = Stephen J. Cohen
| pages = Palm Beach Plus, p. 1
| language = English
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| categories = PBS
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BOYNTON BEACH -- A trip to the Bahamas, eight days in Barbados, a 14-karat gold bracelet and an annual golf membership at Stonebridge will be going, going, gone to the highest bidder.

Those items and more will be auctioned on [[broadwcast:WXEL|WXEL]] during its eight-day fundraiser, which starts today.

It's the second annual auction to raise money for independent programming on Palm Beach County's only public television station.

The goal this year is $150,000. Last year's auction raised about $110,000, said Sandy Stora, the station's membership director.

The money will be used to buy programs not available through the national public television system, Stora said.

"This will enable us to get some really good independent programs, available from independent producers -- the type of things we normally wouldn't be able to get our hands on because of our limited budget," Stora said. Such programs, she said, might include Dr. Who and British situation comedies.

When buyers bid more than the designated value of any item, they will receive a commemorative poster from last year's auction, Stora said.

"It's really spectacular. It will be available both as a bid item as well as an overbid incentive," Stora said.

Dozens of paintings, sculptures, graphics, photographs and crafts will be auctioned.

Paintings by Billie Hightower and Bill Witt, photographs by Sidney Tal-Mason and Claudine Laabs and crafts by Starr Hagenbring and Toni Mann will be among the artwork available.

In addition to the Bahamas and Barbados trips, WXEL will auction:

A $1,000 jewelry shopping spree; $1,000 worth of beauty care; a life-size portrait valued at $3,200; a camphorwood antique breakfront, circa 1850, valued at $5,000; hotel suites in three different local hotels for two to seven days; a cocktail party for 100 people at a local restaurant, a $1,000 value; a diamond and gold ring, valued at $1,500; two-round trip first class tickets to London, worth $4,628; and a seven-day cruise to the Virgin Islands.

On weeknights the auction will begin at 7 and continue until about 11:30 p.m. On weekends, the auctions will begin in the afternoon and continue through 11:30 p.m.

"If you see something you want to bid on," Stora said, "call the number on the screen, which will be 736-WXEL. If you are a long-distance call away, call collect," she said.

"The volunteer operator will record the exact time of the call, and will record the item you are bidding on and your bid. When the bidding is closed on a particular item, the high bidder will be determined," she said.

If the high bid is deemed high enough, the bidder will be notified and told to pick up the item and pay, either by credit card, cash, money order or certified check, Stora said.

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