Special Olympics Auction a success

By Thomas Forquer

What began as a mellow philanthropy event quickly transformed into a multi-front bidding war at Friday night's 12th annual Special Olympics Auction that raised about $6,000 for the Santa Clara Special Olympics Soccer and Basketball Tournaments.

The event, which was sponsored by the Santa Clara Community Action Program (SCCAP), drew about 100 people, including Santa Clara alumni, various students and a large group of SCCAP members, to the Benson cafeteria.

After an initial silent bidding session concluded, a thank you was given by the event's chair, junior Michelle Meyer, followed by the introduction of the Global Messengers, a group of Special Olympics athletes trained in both athletics and public speaking. Global Messengers veteran Trevor Lucken gave a special thank you to all who were participating.

The live bidding began with a real 200-word-per-minute auctioneer and the aggressiveness of the silent auction was unleashed. As the stakes grew larger, the din of the auctioneer's voice was punctuated by shouts of encouragement and advice from the crowd.

There were even rumors of small groups forming coalitions to ensure victory on the bidding of some of the hotter items.

"We really wanted to incorporate the University," Meyer said of many services and items donated by Santa Clara faculty, staff, and students.

While many fundraising auctions tend to offer novel retail items and services donated by companies and stores, Friday's auction contained a wide array of items and services donated by members of the Santa Clara community.

These ranged from a home-cooked meal with Center for Student Leadership associate director Linda Prietto, to a 30 minute massage from sophomore Nat Schulz, to items such as a student-hosted chocolate fondue party.

The auction took some unexpected turns. Services offered by students were doubled to accommodate two winners. Some students added onto the services they donated, and some prizes such as "an evening of love and attention..." were re-clarified so that bidders would know what exactly they were bidding on.

By the end of the evening more was accomplished than raising a monetary amount. Due to the personal nature of many of the services donated by those associated with Santa Clara, and the large number of auction items bought by those associated with the Santa Clara community.

Since all Silicon Valley Special Olympics Region tournaments are usually free for those who participate, the program would not be possible if it weren't for events like Friday's auction and the dedicated volunteers of Santa Clara and others in this area, according to Meyer.

"We are hooking up people that would probably not have met otherwise," Meyer said.