Student groups sponsor charity event
Opening with Michael Bublé’s “I Just Haven’t Met You Yet,” Oles Auctioning Oles offered students the opportunity to purchase dates with the Ole of their dreams or to hang out with their friends, while also supporting the Ole Global Medical Brigades’ efforts to build educational clinics in Honduras.
Sponsored by Oles For Global Health OGH and Ole Global Medical Brigades, the auction took place on Nov. 11 in the Pause. Comprised of 30 live auction items and 13 silent auction items, the event raised nearly $900. “It’s a really exciting and unique way to raise money for a good cause,” Julia Wolter ’15 said. “Although all the contestants seemed a bit nervous, they were excited too.”
As the lights dimmed and the music continued to play, the contestants took the stage one by one, answering questions including class year, major and favorite pickup line. In hopes of being bought by someone in the audience, Charlie Liggett ’16 offered up his personal favorite pickup line: “Unlike the silence, you’ll remember me.”
Additionally, many of the contestants were asked to describe their ideal date, with popular answers ranging from walks in the natural lands to snowshoeing to drinking hot chocolate in the Cage. “I speak Japanese and Spanish,” Gabriel Trejos ’14 said. “I can help you with your Spanish homework if you buy me!”
Shaina Rud ’14 appealed to the audience with a childhood anecdote. “I used to pretend I was a dog when I was little,” Rud said.
The intensity increased when Brian Adams ’15 and Lauren Freisinger ’14 attempted to outbid each other for a date with Holly Williamson. Starting at 10 dollars, the bid continued to rise by three to five dollars until the final price reached $30, making Freisinger the winner.
“I’ve never been to an auction before, so I didn’t know exactly what to expect,” Freisinger said. “The silence was a little bit intimidating, and I felt a little nervous to speak up in front of everybody, but I also know that bidding would encourage more people to participate. Plus, once I got some competition, I got super into it and the nerves went away. It was fun competing – and winning!”
In the end, the most popular silent auction items were a photo shoot with Holly Williamson ’14, private boxing lessons with professor Gordon Marino, dinners with professors James Demas physics, Jean Porterfield biology, Ka Wong Chinese/Asian studies and David Van Wylen biology.
“The silent auction offered a lot of exciting items,” Wolter said. “It’s stuff you can’t just go out and buy yourself.”
OGH started planning the event two months in advance, working on collecting items for the silent auction, recruiting people to sell themselves and coordinating the logistics of the event.
“In order to plan this event we spoke to professors, advertised – we had wonderful photographers that took awesome, sexy pictures of our contestants – [and] worked cohesively with Medical Brigade,” said Adams, a member of the OGH leadership committee.
By combining forces with Ole Global Medical Brigades, OGH was able to help a fellow student organization fund a medical mission trip, while also promoting a cause its own organization believes in.
“This event was important to us because it allowed us to fuse interests with the incredible members of the Ole Global Medical Brigades,” Adams said. “We donated the money to them, and they will use the money to finance sustainable Charlas – clinics that teach public health concepts – to children and adults in Honduras.”
In addition to building the clinics, the trip participants plan to host education sessions, training locals to keep the clinics up and running, as well as act as a go-to outlet for questions concerning the clinics.
“A clinic is like a Band-Aid,” said Greta Richeson ’14, a representative from Ole Global Medical Brigades. “It’s a solution for a problem, but it doesn’t prevent future problems from occurring.”
In an effort to create a long-term solution, Moriah Novacinski ’14, who will be traveling to Honduras with Ole Global Medical Brigades, recognizes the importance of the education sessions as a step towards better global health.
“It is crucial to provide the educational sessions because our short stay with them through the medical brigade is only a Band-Aid on a much bigger problem,” Novacinski said. “By sharing knowledge with their community, we can hopefully provide a longer-lasting solution to some of the health issues they face.”
