Going Once... Going Twice...

Last night I attended the annual charity auction of the Ohio chapter of "Los Amigos de las Américas".  The event raises money to help send high school and college students to Latin American countries this summer to do volunteer work in poor communities. 

There were several tables offering a wide variety of items for the silent auction.  One table featured Latin American handicrafts.  Another table had gift baskets, another had miscellaneous items, and yet another offered gift certificates and tickets donated by area businesses and cultural institutions.  I won four tickets to visit the Hale Farm and Village, an interesting attraction located in the nearby Cuyahoga Valley National Park and operated by the Western Reserve Historical Society.  Historic buildings from throughout the area have been moved there to recreate a 19th century Ohio village.

The verbal auction included the landscape that I painted for the event.  This is the fifth year that I have donated a painting for "Los Amigos".  I am happy to report that it fetched the highest amount of any of the artwork that I have donated to the organization...  $375!


My regular readers will remember that my former teaching colleague and dear friend Jane passed away last year.  She always used to attend these auctions with me.  It just wasn't the same without her presence, and it was the only sad note to an otherwise wonderful evening.