Natchez &8212; The Natchez Rotary Club Christmas Auction will be held Wednesday at the Carriage House restaurant, with buffet lunch beginning at 11 a.m. and the auction starting at 11:30 a.m., said longtime club auctioneer Forest Persons.

Rotary members bring gifts for the auction and members and guests may make bids. &8220;This is important for our club each year,&8221; Persons, who has served Rotary in local, state and national offices, said. &8220;The auction is the only source of income outside of our dues. It helps us with our main functions of international, club, vocational and community service.&8221;

Items brought for auction have ranged widely through the years, almost always including something homemade and usually featuring items that will move bidders into the $1,000-plus range.

Electronic items, furniture, toys, tools, sports equipment, clothes, jewelry, gift certificates and vacation packages generally are among the auctioned items.

&8220;We&8217;ve had everything from a totem pole to a set of pens with the name of the person who brought them inscribed on them. He didn&8217;t realize they were inscribed,&8221; Persons said, laughing and going on to say that the Rotarian who bought the inscribed pens brought them back the next year and bought them again.

Those kinds of memories are alive as Rotarians come ready to bid generously, he said. &8220;I remember Sidney Graves,&8221; he said, referring to the late urologist who also was a longtime Rotary auctioneer. &8220;Every year he&8217;d promise and deliver a turkey with all the trimmings to the back door of the bidder.&8221;

He recalled a Cabbage Patch doll that sold for $900 one year; and, in another year, two friends who decided to outdo one another in bidding for a small homemade apron, perhaps worth $20.

&8220;They just kept bidding until it went for more than $600,&8221; Persons said.

Serving on the auction committee has been a pleasure, Persons said. It allows him and the other committee members to have a good time while creating a lively, fun-filled atmosphere for the rest of the club. &8220;We&8217;re raising money but having a lot of fun doing it.&8221;

Club President Nancy Hungerford said this year&8217;s auction is special because of unusual needs in the community.

&8220;I don&8217;t think our community and the charities we support in Rotary Club have ever needed our help so much,&8221; she said. &8220;Katrina, as well it should have, diverted some of our funds.&8221;

Hungerford used the Rotary motto, &8220;Service above self; he profits most who serves best,&8221; as a reference for this year&8217;s auction.

&8220;This is a time when we remember that service above self is why we meet. Never has there been a year that we needed so much to put that into action,&8221; she said.