You will have a chance to bid on unusual items ranging from training with the Manteca Police SWAT team to spending 10 hours with firefighters tagging along on calls as part of an effort to fund Boys & Girls Club programs for 1,500 kids.

The two are among nearly three dozen live bid items that are part of the 26th annual Manteca/Lathrop Boys & Girls Club Telethon taking place on Monday, Nov. 8, from 5 to 8 p.m., and Tuesday, Nov. 9, from 4:30 to 11 p.m. on Comcast Cable Channel 97.

The list of live auction items includes a car care package with Manteca Unified School District board member Wendy King washing your vehicle, professional sports tickets, a cord of wood donated by Van Gronnigen Orchards, a family pack to celebrate at Holidays on the Farm complete with ice skating and snow tubing, dance lessons from former Oakland Raiderette Harmony Rebeiro, a shopping spree at Grocery Outlet, a train lovers package, and more.

There will also be a live auction as well as pledges as nearly 400 volunteers will try to raise $120,000 to support youth programs.

The club is rolling out on-line as well as cell phone text bidding for the live and silent auctions this year.

“It’s like having e-Bay and the Home Shopping Network meshed together,” noted Fred White of DeCristo productions.

White designed the new system that will allow people to make real-time bids. Each time a bid is made it is instantaneously sent in text form to all of those individuals who are interested in the item.

People will be able to register on-line or via cell phone or by dropping by the club where there will be six kiosks available for them to set up accounts. There will be trained volunteers on hand to assist them.

Even those just interested in the silent auction will have a different experience. Instead of just writing down bids on sheets, they will be registered at a computer kiosk and given bar code based on the information they provide for the bidding process. That is then placed on a bidding pamphlet that allows the use of scanners to make bids on items.

Boys & Girls Club Executive Director Charlie Halford noted that those people who are comfortable with the old process of calling in bids while watching on TV are still able to do so.

Among the groups that Manteca Fire Chief Kirk Waters has lined up to work the pledge phones so far this year are the Christian Worship Center, Crossroads Grace Community Church, Church of Latter-day Saints, Manteca Soroptimists, DCS, Lathrop Chamber, Del Webb at Woodbridge residents, Seniors Helping Area Residents and Police, Seniors Aiding Fire Effort, Manteca interact, the Building Industry of the Delta, Sunrise Kiwanis, Manteca Morning Rotary, Dell’Osso Farms, the Manteca banking industry, Manteca High JROTC, Manteca Youth Focus, Lathrop Rotary, San Joaquin County Correctional Officers, Manteca city leaders, Knights of Columbus, Manteca High Community Service Club, and others.

The groups and individuals that help man phones and collect pledges typically secure $10 and $20 donations - plus others that go as high as $100 - to account for the bulk of the $100,000 plus the telethon generates each year.

If you would like to help with the phones and pledge collecting contact Waters at 456-8300.

This is the first time in 26 years the telethon is not taking place the week of Thanksgiving.

Halford noted the switch to an earlier date is in response to community changes. Manteca Unified schools in the last several years have scheduled the entire week off prompting many people to plan family vacations. Also a growing number of employers - including the City of Manteca and high-tech firms - are furloughing workers that week which in turn prompts many who have helped volunteer in the past to schedule other things.

For those who wish to help secure auction items or help with other aspects of the telethon contact the Boys & Girls Club at 239-KIDS.