Where can you go to get a great dinner at a reasonable price — AND get a shot at some serious bargains at everything from a vacation getaway to a spend-the-night party for your kids?

Well, Thursday night you can go to the Freedom Christian Academy & Outback Steakhouse Dinner and Auction. One of the biggest fund-raisers of the year at our son Grant’s school, the Outback dinner is one heck of a fun night. First of all, there’s dinner, which this year is chicken and ribs, blue cheese chopped salad and vegetables from Outback Steakhouse at Strawberry Plains here in Knoxville. This some serious food, and at $15, it’s about as good as it gets. You’re not going to beat it, I can promise you.

Then there is the auction, both the silent and live varieties. You never know what’s going to be up for sale — I’ve seen works of art, cabin rentals in the Smokies, various themed baskets of goodies, brake jobs, signed football and basketballs — you name it and it just may be there. This year there are over 200 auction items available, so there is probably something there that will pique your interest.

All the proceeds go to Freedom Christian Academy, which is a K3-8th grade Christian school at Chilhowee Hills Baptist Church in East Knoxville. The teachers and administrators do an excellent job of educating children using a biblically-based curriculum, which is important these days. Not that I have anything specifically against public school. I am a product of a public school myself. But if I can give my son a Christian education, I think it gives him a spiritual advantage that I didn’t have.

There are still a few tickets left, if you are in Knoxville and want to come. Call FCA at 865-525-7807 to reserve yours.

By the way, Studio P is donating four items for the auction — a pair of one-hour portrait sessions (one studio and one location), a 20-page custom-designed photo book with the purchase of a portrait session and a 16 x 20 canvas wrap with the purchase of a portrait session. The photo books, especially, are becoming quite popular. We take a lot of pictures during a 1-hour portrait session, sometimes as many as 200 or more. Photo books are a way to get more of the images without having to find a place to hang them on the wall. Below is a page from a book that we have done for Bailey, one of our seniors that we have shot. The full book will be on display at the auction.

Hope that we see you there!