The Auction

Last night several friends of mine and I attended the annual auction held by the Ohio chapter of "Los Amigos de las Américas".  "Los Amigos" is a non-profit, non-sectarian organization with chapters throughout the United States.  It sends high school and college students to various Latin American countries to do volunteer work during the summer.  It is my favorite charity, and for the past five years I have been attending the event and contributing items to the auction.

The event was held at the Kent State University Conference Center in Kent, Ohio, about an hour from where I live.  It began with a "silent auction" with numerous tables of things that have been contributed by individuals and businesses.  There were gift certificates, gift baskets and a wide variety of objects. 

 

 

One of the items was two admission tickets to Stan Hywett Hall and Gardens in Akron.  Stan Hywett Hall is a Tudor-style mansion that was built in the early 20th century as the home of Frank Sieberling, the co-founder of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.  Today the house, filled with antique European furnishings, is a museum and a registered National Historic Landmark.   My friend Alejandro is planning to come up from Mexico for a visit this summer.  He has not been to Stan Hywett Hall, so I thought that it would be an interesting excursion for us to make.  I placed the winning bid on the tickets!

 

One of the most interesting parts of the "silent auction" are the tables filled with Latin American handicrafts.  Many of the items were brought back by the student volunteers.  Whenever I go to Mexico I make it a point to buy a few small handicrafts to donate to the auction.

 

 

(For example, I purchased the small painting to the left of center at an outdoor art market in the Mexico City neighborhood of Coyoacán.)

 

One of my friends who attended the auction was my former teaching colleague, Jane.  Regular readers of my blog know that she accompanied me on a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, this past winter.  While in Oaxaca she bought a beautiful table runner.  Unfortunately, when she returned home, she realized that the colors did not go well with her décor.  So, she donated it to the auction.  It was the most popular item on the Latin American tables and fetched the most money!

 

 

Later in the evening a "verbal auction" was held for the more expensive items that had been donated.  These ranged from a ride on the Goodyear Blimp, tickets to the summer concerts of the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center, to resort vacations.  Each year (as you know from previous posts) I do a painting for the "verbal auction."

 



 

 

There was a bit of a bidding war between a couple of people for my painting.  The winner was Cliff, a friend of mine who has attended the auction for the past several years.

 

  

It was a fun evening that benefited a very worthwhile cause.