More than 250 people, including College President Eugene M. Tobin and many members of the Board of Trustees, participated in the fourth annual Alternative Spring Break Auction Friday evening, March 1, in Commons Dining Hall.
Donated items for the silent auction ranged from handmade quilts by Student Activities Staff Assistant Theresa Gallagher and Science Library Assistant Joan Clair to a $20 gift certificate from Park Row Booksellers, an African dance lesson with Veronique Gbado '02 and Cecie Odoch-Jato '02, and a half-hour swing dancing lesson from Dania Ramos '03.
During the oral auction, many students, trustees, faculty and staff took turns outbidding each other for items ranging from lunch with President Tobin and tickets to Glimmerglass Opera in nearby Cooperstown, to a roundtrip airline ticket to anywhere in the Continental U.S. and an original watercolor by Carleen Murdock, wife of Trustee Dan Murdock '59. An Italian dinner for eight at the home of Vice President for Communications and Development Dick Tantillo received the evening's high bid -- $500.
All told, the evening raised about $3,500 to offset expenses later this month when 96 Hamilton students head to eight Alternative Spring Break destinations to engage in a variety of community service projects. Instead of spending time on a South Florida beach, these students will help build a new home as part of a Habitat for Humanity project in Hickory, N.C., help with maintenance projects and interact with residents at the Rock Hill, S.C., Home for Girls, and help maintain trails and conduct ecological projects in Crossville, Tenn. Other destinations include Jacksonville, Fla., New York City, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, La., and Savannah, Ga.
