The annual Pius X BOLT Gala raised more than anticipated from their special ask on April 29.

“BOLT is our annual auction, dinner and biggest fundraiser of the year,” BOLT coordinator Kathryn Bergen said.

BOLT achieved its yearly earnings of about 300,000 like previous years. This year’s proceeds will be going towards the new front entrance.

Of the events $ 300,000, $ 102,000 was from the special ask

“I thought the night went really well, we exceeded our special ask goal,” Bergen said. “Our special ask goal was $ 40,000 and we exceeded that by quite a bit, almost $ 62,000.”

The special ask is a matching fund where donations that night were matched evenly up to $ 40,000.

Aside from the special ask, BOLT earns funds in a plethora of other ways: a bead game called heads or tails, entry fees, a dinner, live auction, silent auction, lottery sales and corporate donations from local businesses.

“The purpose of BOLT is to raise money for capital improvements at our school and fund the booster club,” Chief Administrative Officer Tom Korta said.

Two thirds of the profit go to capital improvement funds, and the other one third to booster club which in turn goes back to things like turf or new pavement.

“We have our very own BOLT Committee, who for a better part of a year planned out this night,” Advancement Director and committee member Courtney Johnson said.

With an event this large, the committee broke up into subgroups, each focused on making sure a part of the night was perfect.

The night started out with mass, silent auction, dinner, heads or tails, then live auction, special ask and concluded with a lottery.

“I thought the night went very well, it was a fun evening seeing all the costumes,” Korta said.

Each year a different theme is chosen for a fun atmosphere, this year’s was disco and 70s inspired outfits.

“The photo booth with the disco theme was awesome,” Bergen said. “There was so many great costumes but the best was Mr. Korta as Disco Tom with his bright green suit and wig.”

A photobooth was included for attendees to have a chance to take fun photos highlighting their costumes.

“While it was not my first BOLT, for me it’s always just so great to see a room full of people who want Pius to be the best it can be and to support us,” Korta said.

This year’s BOLT was the 38th one. Originally it started in the 80s when parents came together wanting to raise funds for the booster club.

While BOLT started out small it has grown into an annual, highly anticipated, and largest event of the year.