"Wild" was perhaps the best way to describe a dinner fundraiser held at Grace United Methodist Church.

The food was wild and the auction wilder as hundreds gathered to enjoy the fruits of many hunters' labors and benefit the church's Family and Leisure Ministries at the same time.

The offerings were many and varied as those attending were treated to a silent auction, the chance to purchase items handcrafted by church members and the bluegrass music of Doug and The Henrys as they munched on the various catches of the season.

There were a number of venison dishes - from venison stew to chili, spaghetti, country-fried steak and even shepherd's pie, all using deer meat as the base. Along with those items were elk stroganoff, caribou pizza, duck bites, shark bites, pheasant and dumplings. For the less adventuresome, there was the option of smoked turkey, boiled shrimp, fish and even chicken fingers, for those who didn't mind heading over to the kids' table (where there were fries and even sweet potato fries).

The meal was followed by a live auction in which Dick Rosenlieb again served as auctioneer and offered tame trips to the beach or a wild time in Beech Island on a wild boar hunting trip.

Rosenlieb worked hard to get some competition going to boost the price of a couple of the choice trips - that is, until his wife got into the act and the auctioneer ignored her frantic hand-waving in an effort to bid. It was then that a member of the audience took over and continued as auctioneer with Linda Rosenlieb bidding. Rosenlieb seemed relieved when his wife lost the bid.

And the fun didn't stop there. In addition to the live auction was a silent auction with everything from Madam Alexander dolls to camouflage laptop carriers, as well as an opportunity to purchase raffle tickets for chances to win gift certificates for local restaurants.

Beverly Blevins reported the dinner garnered in excess of $7,700 with just a few bills yet to be paid.