MACHIAS – Ron and Melanie Beckwith’s request that their church hold a fundraising dinner and auction wasn’t for their own benefit. It was so they could in turn go help others.

Saturday evening, the Centre Street Congregational Church raised more than $2,200 for the Beckwiths’ project – spending a week rebuilding homes in Biloxi, Miss., damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

The East Machias couple leaves Saturday to join a United Church of Christ group from New Hampshire that has arranged the trip south.

Married 25 years last summer, Ron Beckwith surprised his wife with a public declaration on a restaurant signboard along U.S. Route 1 that he would propose to Melanie “all over again.”

In addition to the anniversary dinner, the Beckwiths wanted to take a special trip in honor of their years together. So, filled with parental guilt, they traveled last month with their four children to Florida.

But even after Florida, they wanted something more. They learned about the New Hampshire group’s plans for Biloxi, then asked about tagging along. The only problem was the nearly $2,000 expenses involved.

Beckwith approached the Centre Street church’s Missions in Action committee, which ordinarily provides small amounts to help local outreach projects such as the food pantry.

Given the cost of the trip, Beckwith suggested, maybe the church could just make a donation to the Biloxi project instead, and the couple would stay home.

But church leaders insisted the Beckwiths go, and plans for a benefit lasagna supper were launched.

Everyone took part on Saturday. Church regulars brought in pans of lasagna. Thirteen members of the Tri-M music group from Washington Academy – which two Beckwith girls attend – performed and sang. Dozens of church and community members offered goods and services in a “time and talent” auction.

More than $600 was raised at the door, and the auction netted another $1,400. Church member Nancy Knight served as the “auction goddess” – complete with her trademark, deadpan bullying.

“The doors are locked,” Knight announced sharply at the auction’s start. “No one is leaving here until we raise the money.”

The bidding was fierce. Knight herself paid $65 for one of Harper Dean’s chocolate cakes made to order. Barbara Manchester, Sue Getchell and Ellen Farnsworth each paid $10 to have Charles Lightner wash their winter-sullied cars in his heated garage.

Lightner himself bid $85 to have “three energetic and hard-working teenage boys” – Avram Reisman, Chris Gibson and Colin Martinez – work in his yard “to get things tidied up for spring.”

Carol Flores paid $40 to have Kate and Paul Jans work in her garden for half a day. Richard Burman paid $50 to have Chris and Doug Guy – famous for their Blueberry Festival musical talents – write lyrics for a special song.

“I’m choosing ‘When I Fall in Love,’ and I’ll have them write about my wife,” Burman said. “She’s been the love of my life for 43 years. We will have them to dinner, and then they will play our song on the piano.”

Lisa Bartlett, an art teacher for both the Elm Street School and SAD 37, was badgered by Knight to bid $200 on one of Jeri Burman’s paintings.

“Need has nothing to do with this,” Knight reminded her. Bartlett came through.

Church members and others were eager to support the cause. Beckwith gave a talk during dessert about the home repair work he and Melanie expect to handle.

“We all saw the images of Katrina,” he said. “It was awful. We sent some money and made some care packages. But we really felt like we wanted to do more.”

They will work alongside volunteers with the Back Bay Mission of Biloxi, which was started in 1922 with the goal of serving the needs of “poor fisher folk.”

Five of the mission’s seven buildings – including a health clinic, food pantry and domestic violence shelter – were destroyed by the hurricane.

But instead of rebuilding their own property, mission leaders want the New Hampshire helpers and the Beckwiths to fix other homes and buildings in the community.

One of the Beckwiths’ goals for their week in Biloxi is to establish a direct connection between the Centre Street church and the Biloxi mission, itself a United Church of Christ organization.

Perhaps later this year a bigger work group from Centre Street could travel from Down East to Biloxi, he said.

Their trip is not unlike the house-rebuilding trip that Tony Maker, Ralph Ackley and others took in December to Kenner, La. Maker is principal of Elm Street School, which the Beckwith’s two other children attend.

Seeing what Maker and his group did provided inspiration for the Beckwiths to seek out a similar kind of working contribution.

Maker’s group – Hands and Feet Downeast – is now organizing to help with home repair work within Washington County. Another group, Neighbors Helping Neighbors, has for several summers done such work for those who need it. Still a third group is currently forming locally, a Down East chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

A hobbyist house fixer-upper, Beckwith hopes that the three groups can work together this spring and summer with their shared goals.

Beckwith is the chief financial officer at the Roosevelt Campobello International Park. He ended his talk with a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: “When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.”

To contribute to the Beckwiths’ work trip to Biloxi, checks payable to Centre Street Congregational Church may be mailed to P.O. Box 265, Machias, 04654.