I am still recovering from last night’s dinner and auction for Child’s Play. To say that the evening was a huge success would be the understatement of the year. Just to give you an idea of how incredible last night was let me give you some numbers. At the dinner last year we raised just over $17,000 which we thought was a respectable amount. This year we raised $82,100.
The generosity of the crowd at last night’s dinner was staggering to say the least. Tycho and I would often start the bidding for a particular item at $50 and immediately someone in the audience would yell out “five hundred!” From there things would just get ridiculous with people topping each other’s bids not by $50 increments like we suggested but by hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars.
The live auction culminated in a bidding war over an appearance in a Penny Arcade comic strip. The scene played out like something from a movie. We started the bidding at $100 but almost immediately someone in the audience yelled out “ten thousand!” Tycho literally fell off the stage. I started doing the “going once, going twice” thing assuming we had a clear winner but before I could finish I heard “twelve thousand!” The two of them battled it out, each one raising the bar by a thousand dollars with every bid until it finally reached $16,000. The bidder who had originally called out the $10,000 bid remained silent for a few minutes and it looked like his opponent might win the comic strip appearance with his bid of $16,000. However before we could call it sold he shouted “twenty thousand!”
The crowd exploded.
Going once, going twice, sold for $20,000 to bidder number 111.
Everyone was on their feet applauding and cheering.
Eventually things settled down as people worked on their desserts. Robert took the stage at the end of the evening to give everyone the final tally. When he announced that we had taken in $82,100 the place erupted again.
Incredible.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended the dinner last night. I’d also like to thank the sponsors who donated all the amazing gifts and the enforcers who helped us set up and run the event. Last night a representative from Children’s hospital took the stage and speaking about Child’s Play she said that plenty of people intend to do good, but you guys are actually doing good.
-Gabe out
