HIGH POINT – Leaders of the Salvation Army’s strong right arm, the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary, hope to flex some financial muscle next week at the organization’s traditional fundraiser, the Red Kettle Luncheon.

“This is a big fundraiser for us that we do every two years,” says Punkin Parker, president of the Women’s Auxiliary. “Two years ago, we raised about $27,000, and in 2006 we raised $29,000.”

This year’s luncheon, which will include a fashion show, live auction and silent auction, will be held March 23 at the High Point Country Club.

The deadline for purchasing tickets is Thursday.

The highlight of the luncheon will be a fashion show featuring more than 20 local celebrities wearing wardrobes from Stein Mart.

Among the models will be recently retired radio personality Max Meeks; prominent business and civic leader Ed Price; Marty Sumner of the High Point Police Department; High Point Enterprise columnist Mary Bogest; WMAG morning announcer Lora Songster; news anchor Julie Luck and reporter Kristin Nelson from WGHP-TV; and Lauren Ashley Martz, Miss North Carolina Teen USA.

“They’ll go to Stein Mart and pick out their clothes – whatever they like – and parade around the ballroom,” Parker says.

The luncheon will also include a live auction featuring the following items: an 18-inch pearl necklace; a week’s stay at a house at Topsail Beach; an Italian dinner for eight, prepared by Bert Woods; an overnight at J.H. Adams Inn and dinner at Hampton’s, the inn’s in-house restaurant; and four rounds of golf provided by the High Point Country Club.

There will also be a silent auction featuring more than 150 items, including such items as plants, pottery, clothing, homemade foods, art, home furnishings accessories, and gift certificates from restaurants, nail salons and other local businesses.

Tickets to the luncheon are $35 apiece, and all proceeds will go directly to the Salvation Army of High Point to assist with such projects as its women’s shelter, the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club, and the William Booth Garden Apartments.

The Women’s Auxiliary was established in 1992 by a group of women who supported the mission of the Salvation Army, according to Parker.

“It started because they wanted to help with the women’s shelter, and it just grew and grew from there,” she says. “We donate $70,000 to $90,000 a year to the Salvation Army through our fundraisers, but we also do a lot of volunteering. We have 82 members, and we give volunteer hours to everything the Salvation Army does.”