(CBS) Twitty was hoping for two dozen items. Instead, she received 200.

She says, when she looks around at all the goodies, "I just, wow! You just go, 'Wow, this many people actually care about what's going on.' And they really do."

You would think, at an auction, the more bidders, the better, Cobiella observes. But the event was by invitation only. About 1,000 people were invited. Otherwise, organizers feared, the entire town might show up.

Says family friend Bearman, "This city has lots of roots, and everyone's connected."

Bearman organized the senior class trip to Aruba, the one from which Holloway vanished, and Bearman was on that first flight back with Holloway's parents the day after she disappeared.

"We discussed it on the flight that, when we get there and get our hands on her, we're gonna be scolding her and telling her she shouldn't have wandered off. Um, you know, nobody believed it would get to this point," Bearman says.

And, Cobiella says, no one has forgotten her. Not the people in her hometown, or the students she was supposed to join at the University of Alabama.

Student John Peters helped hang yellow ribbons around campus in her honor.

"We wanted to do it just to show support for (Holloway's) friends and family," he says. "We did it for the friends of Natalee, just to let her know we did care, and we still do care, and we're here to help them in any way we can."

Holloway should be two days into her new life as a college student. A full academic scholarship awaits her, and the school is holding her room in the freshman dorm for her.

Most of the money raised will help Holloway's family members pay their expenses in Aruba.

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