The "Better Late Than Never" LKNS Auction
As an extracurricular activity of our school, the Legacy Knights Numismatic Society has been waiting for some word on back-to-school operational plans for the 2020-2021 school year. We finally got the official plan in writing today. Depending on how you feel about the pandemic and governmental and societal handling of it, the plans will either look like too much, not enough, or a reasonable approach under the circumstances. I believe our school is doing the best it reasonably can, and they do plan to return to the classroom in about a month. Of course this could change as the state and local situations and governmental requirements change. But if it's safe to get back to the classroom and safe to do sports activities again, then it isn't unreasonable to hold other extracurricular activities, as long as we pay attention to reasonable health precautions.LKNS missed its 2019-2020 annual student members only auction because the school was closed for the pandemic. Ohio has been gradually reopening and the state has issued guidance for reopening schools. So that the faithful 2019-2020 members who worked throughout the years to earn KPC to spend at our auction aren't cheated out of that opportunity, We will start the 2020-2021 year by holding our 2019-2020 auction. We have a pretty good collection of auction items started, even though donations were hampered a bit by the pandemic (not being able to meet with people to promote the auction and receive donations, etc). Still we will do OK and have a good time with it. Hopefully we can even turn this into some energy for renewing memberships for the 2020-2021 year.Normally we make the auction kind of a party. We like cookies (they are round and flat like coins), and we wash them down with some bottled water. This time though they will have to be served individually so that the kids aren't touching or breathing on other kids' cookies and water bottles when they get their own. It's possible we might have to skip those altogether... I hope not, because sugar-fueled bidding really makes for a great auction. :-)We usually have the kids bid with paper Knights Payment Certificates denominated in pre-decimal British pounds sterling (pounds, shillings, and pence). We might skip the paper currency this year just to reduce handling it and passing it around. Instead, maybe we'll keep a list of credit for each student.We will put all the auction items on a display table and allow them to be viewed but not handled by any but the auction hosts until the items are won. It's important to see the obverse and reverse of what you're buying, so we will still try to accommodate that.We hold the auction in a large open room, so we will have plenty of tables, chairs, and space to spread everyone out around the room for social distancing. Plus, the kids are being encouraged to bring and wear masks for school (we will see how that goes). We can probably have their won items brought to them at their seat rather than have them walk past each other. Of course, they get excited and have a hard time sitting still, so maybe walking to the table and back would be better than not. (Hmmmm, might have to rethink the cookie-fueled bidding thing...)Maybe this will be a good model for other meetings. With a little thought, clubs could find a way to meet in person again by employing some reasonable health precautions. Lots of clubs involve older people, so I wouldn't want to see any of them catch a virus; but a lack of social contact and loneliness is also taking a toll on people's mental health, and there's a link between the health of a person's mind and their body. So hopefully a safe, healthy balance can be found. If nothing else, we are all a little more aware of how germs spread and can practice good sanitation and hygiene habits in our daily lives.
