Operation St. Nick raises more than $109,000 during radio auction

MORRIS – Joe Schmitz and Shirley Kiss sat for the 34th year inside the booth at WCSJ AM and FM radio station in Morris, with scraps of paper scattered in front of them with various amounts of money written on them.

As they talked with radio host Kevin Schramm, it appeared more like a leisurely brunch among friends than the frenzied auction raising money for Operation St. Nick to provide Christmas gifts to children in need in Grundy County.

“We were able to sell 125 items, and we also received several donations during the auction,” Schmitz said on Monday.

Outside the booth, where the elves were working, the calm quickly became the storm as they worked their phones taking bids for items donated for the annual radio auction.

On the wall hung several poster boards with auction items written neatly at top, along with any minimum requirement for bidding, and names underneath with amounts climbing upward as the day went on.

Many bidders preferred to remain anonymous, so the letters “anon” followed by a number was placed with their bid, notes of initials or nicknames often were in parentheses so the elves could remember who was interested in the item.

Once a person was outbid, the elves worked their magic by calling or texting previous bidders to raise the total bid.

With each new bid, a runner went into the booth, dropping yet another scrap of paper to the ever-growing pile with the item and new amount so those listening in could keep up with the bids.

Sunday marked the 34th annual Operation St. Nick radio auction held at WCSJ AM and FM radio stations in downtown Morris to benefit its St. Nick Christmas Program.

Operation St. Nick Christmas Program founders Joe Schmitz and Shirley Kiss spearheaded the event along
with radio host Kevin Schramm and board members, also known as "elves," to raise more than $109,000 in four hours.

“I have such a great board, I get way too much credit for Operation St. Nick,” Schmitz said on Monday.

This year’s auction offered four, 1-hour feature auction items, along with items such as gift baskets starting at $100. Schmitz said 125 items were auctioned in total.

At 11:30 a.m. Schmitz said his “gold coin in a bucket” donation came into the station with a $20,000 personal check which was a donation only. The same anonymous donor has done so for the past eight years after he saw the excitement on Schmitz’s face the first time.

In addition to the gold coin, Schmitz said other donations rolled in, including $10,000 from Sportsmen for Charity. A $5,000 donation was made by Rick and Donna Marketti in honor of Terry Marketti. and Jerry and Lorraine Davidson donated $2,500 to cover one military family who will receive their Christmas wish from Operation St. Nick.

Schmitz said in the early years when Kiss was at We Care of Grundy County, he would call her and ask for a family or two who were in need of gifts for their children for Christmas. He said they did that for a few years, and when he had a lawyer in town offer him a $500 check to help others, he knew they could do more.

The first year Operation St. Nick auctioned off one Cabbage Patch Kid doll for $785. Schmitz said that doll led him to have one of the best stories throughout the years.