By Shannon Wright

The Minden St Jude Auction can easily be described as an anomaly among charity fundraising events. Generally, these events take 3-5 years to reach their peak, and they often have a short lifespan. A great run for an event would be 8-10 years.

However, the City of Minden seems to have found the secret sauce when it comes to keeping a charity fundraising event alive. This year Minden will celebrate 50 auctions benefitting St. Jude.

What is that secret sauce? No one has been able to figure it out.

Mary Beth Edwards jokingly said that volunteering to help with the event is a bit of an addiction.

“I took vacation every year from the post office to volunteer to work the phones,” Edwards said. She has been a volunteer for about 30 years now and has no plans to quit any time soon.

Back in 1998 when about 70 percent of the city was without power due to an ice storm, Mike Harper was the chairman of the board, and he suggested that they reschedule the event. The board members told him that it was impossible. People had scheduled their vacations around the event, and many travelled from other states. The show went on!

When asked what he would contribute to the longevity of the event, he said it’s not any one thing – it’s a compilation of many different aspects and many different people who are involved.

“The hospital has sent reps here to try to replicate it in other communities but to my knowledge, no one has done it nearly as successfully as we have,” Harper said.

Whatever it is, Minden has the recipe perfected.

What started from parents’ broken hearts has turned into the heartbeat of this community.

The auction will kick-off Thursday, February 6 and run until Sunday, February 9. The committee is still gathering raffle items. If your business or organization is interested in donating, please reach out to the Minden St Jude Auction Facebook page or email: mindenstjudemerch@gmail.com .