About 270 partygoers “boarded” the Carmel 2000 and cruised around Corsair Island last weekend without ever leaving port Mundelein. Portholes, shimmering blue streamers, festive Caribbean greens and oranges had transformed Carmel High School’s new multipurpose facility for the cruise-themed annual Carmel Dinner Auction. And as teams that have played the parochial school know, the Corsair (a courageous privateer, or pirate, according to interpretation) is the school mascot.
Carmel board member Joe Krakora and wife Marie of Lake Forest looked around in admiration. “This is spectacular. Did you see the fish swimming in the center of the tables?” asked Joe, pointing out the centerpieces.
But this was one event where the centerpieces didn’t go to the guest with the dot under the coffee cup. “The preschool just started an aquarium. They’re dying for this to be over to get our fish to stock their aquarium,” said chairwoman Kathleen Olson of Lake Forest.
“This is one of our more fun fundraisers,” said Carmel President Rev. William Harry, who had just walked into the room, or as he observed, “just arrived on board.”
Father Bill, as he is known, noted that the dinner-auction helped pay for the school’s new athletic facilities, including the new 44,000-square-foot multipurpose building where the party was held.
But Harry pointed to an additional important aspect. “It’s also an opportunity for parents, students, faculty to work together. For me that’s one of the side benefits of fundraisers,” he said.
Spirited bidding between a couple of syndicates formed prior to the dinner to snag attractive group items pushed a vacation at a three-bedroom home on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands to $3,100.
But the real excitement came halfway through the auction when 1971 Carmel grad Patrick Salvi of Lake Forest walked in to a standing ovation. Salvi, who had dashed back for the event from the Notre Dame-Michigan game, had promised to match the auction items dollar for dollar up to $50,000. It was announced later that Salvi’s donation, coupled with the $70,000 raised that evening, had taken the school over its $3 million fundraising goal set about seven years ago.
“As an alumnus, it is truly a pleasure to be able to give something back to Carmel,” Salvi said. “I consider Carmel to be one of the finest high schools not only in Lake County but in all of Illinois.”