Making A Bid

MAKING A BID

Greenhills set to auction exotic adventures

By DAVE WILKINS  APR 24 1990

NEWS STAFF REPORTER

What? You want to vacation at former University of Michigan basketball coach Bill Frieder’s Arizona guest house? Use Tom Monaghan’s private suite at Tiger Stadium? Hang out with the Wolverine basketball team for a day?

Then submit your bid at Greenhills School's auction Saturday.

Or, if your tastes are a bit more exotic (and expensive,) the folks at Greenhills have other items that may be of interest: a ride in the Goodyear blimp, a trip for two to Wimbledon in 1991, a week for a child at a “space camp” in Huntsville, Ala., or vacations in California, Vermont, Colorado, New York, northern Michigan and Spain.

The Ann Arbor private school’s annual auction has become a big-ticket affair this year. Organizers hope to raise $80,000 -- twice as much as last year -- for Greenhills scholarships and enrichment programs. The auction committee is co-chaired by Lois Baru and Nishta Bhatia, whose children are among 410 students in grades 6-12 who attend Greenhills.

To determine what to place on the auction block, the volunteer organizers got together with friends, neighbors and fellow Greenhills parents and asked a simple question:

“What’s something you’ve always wanted to do?”

Then they set out in search of donors — braving the bureaucracy of the Goodyear company to arrange for a blimp ride, getting help from John Kosta at Huron Valley Travel for the Wimbledon trip, borrowing weekends or weeks at several Greenhills parents’ summer homes.

“A lot of times, it was plain old detective work,” said Peg Talburtt, Greenhills director of planning and development.

In total, more than 350 items will be offered at live and silent auctions, including: Piston playoff tickets, two new cars, a tour for six children at a nuclear power plant, dinner at more than 20 restaurants, deep sea fishing, orthodontic work, haircuts, driving lessons, clothing, lots of food and wine, and celebrity speakers ranging from Leonard Woodcock, former U.S. Ambassador to Chinam to first-year U-M football coach Gary Moeller.

Items can be previewed at the school from 5:30-8 p.m. Thursday. Greenhills is at 850 Greenhills Drive, off Earhart Road.

It costs $75 to attend the auction, which starts at 6:30 p.m. and is accompanied by a gourmet dinner, a raffle and entertainment from the Harvey Reed Jazz Trio.

For tickets or information, call 769-4010.