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BY AMELIA POSSANZA

In print | Published March 26, 2009

With just a few Christmas lights and a red carpet, the Village Education Project transformed the Alice Paul lounge into the site of the first annual “Black Tie” charity auction last Friday. According to VEP’s Executive Director Katherine Lam ’11, the live auction of student talents, the silent auction of more traditional items and the donations collected that evening raised just over $2,000.

The VEP, founded by Katie Chamblee ’07 during her time at Swarthmore, is a student organization dedicated to raising money to fund the secondary education of students in six of Ecuador’s rural villages. As the auction’s program reminded attendees, it only takes $200 to provide a child with the supplies, uniform and materials necessary to complete a year of education.

To host the auction, the VEP used money from the Student Affairs Committee in order to purchase decorations and appetizers, but relied primarily on the community’s donations of time, talent and items for auction. “All of the money was profit, which is really great,” said Director of Development Kendal Rinko ’09, referring to the money raised at the auction. “It was nice to see our whole group come together,” she said. “We worked on an event that wasn’t just planning for Ecuador, but bringing something that we really care about to the campus.”

This year, the organization decided to try something new in addition to their usual methods of fundraising. Inspired by an episode of “The Office” in which a hug is auctioned off for roughly $1,000, Co-Director of Development Amber Wantman ’10 suggested that VEP host an auction that not only provided people with the opportunity to bid on tangible goods, but also to bid on the talents of students and faculty.

Other members of the group saw the value of this unique idea and its ability to draw students to the event. And their thoughts were right as over a hundred people attended the auction for various reasons. “We’re here to support friends that are in the auction,” Ivana Ng ’12 said.

Hosts Wantman and Rinko introduced each “item” with an elaborately humorous biography. Then, the individuals strutted down the red carpet, sometimes demonstrating their talent in an exaggerated way. To remind attendees of the cause they came out to support, a video of past volunteers and their work played in the background during the entire event.

Some of the talents included a “sensual serenade” from G Patrick ’10, a member of the dance group Rhythm-N-Motion and the a cappella group Sixteen Feet, a home-cooked southern dinner for three from Assistant Dean for Residential Life Rachel Head and a massage from Hoa Pham ’10.

“[They] convinced me to do it for a good cause. And the cause is plenty worth the embarrassment,” Pham said, explaining her decision to donate her talents to VEP. Pham’s massage went for $45.
The most expensive live auction was the dinner offered by Rachel Head. After starting the bid at just five dollars, it quickly rose to $110. “I’m looking forward to dinner. I’m from the south so it’s dear to me,” winner Greg Patton ’10 said. Other expensive and popular items included a piece of original artwork by Professor of Studio Art Randy Exon that sold for $250 and a several-person filet mignon dinner provided by Executive Chef of Catering Lisa Scolaro for $152.

Part of the reason that the bids reached such high value is that tight-budgeted students weren’t the only ones making bids. Assistant Director of Student Life Kelly Wilcox, Registrar Martin Warner and Associate Professor of Spanish Luciano Martínez, among others, made an appearance.

“It was really nice to see students supporting faculty and staff and faculty and staff supporting students outside the classroom,” Rinko said.

Rinko, Wantman and Lam hope that the auction becomes an annual event. “We came here with the purpose of having an auction to raise money,” Lam said. “But to know that this is something that could happen for years and years is really cool.”

Each summer, the project sends volunteers from colleges and universities across the nation to villages outside of Otavalo, Ecuador to teach students preparing for secondary school. The volunteers execute student-written curriculums in both math and English. Children who maintain high enough grades in both portions of this summer school receive sponsorship from VEP to attend secondary school.

In past years, funding for these scholarships has come from volunteer fees and grants. While VEP also receives money from other sources, such as Project Pericles, a non-profit that uses their funds to promote social justice initiatives on college campuses, these funds do not support student scholarships.

Students interested in volunteering this summer can contact VEP at VillageEducationVolunteer@gmail.com.

Disclosure Note: Kendal Rinko and Amber Wantman are columnists for the Phoenix but had no role in the production of this article.

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