Dream Auction for the Walper School in Uganda
It had been a chilly February day as I sat at my workdesk in The Record’s newsroom and checked my assignment sheet: get in touch with Michael von Teichman, new owner of the Walper Terrace Hotel, one of our region’s most significant companies. It seems that Michael was eager to not only make his business successful, but also use his situation as an entrepreneur to supply aid in a developing country. He’d picked out the Waterloo-based GIVE International, a charity doing development work in Eastern Uganda.
Michael determined that if he donated $1 per hotel guest over the course of 1 year that could amount to $20,000, the precise amount necessary to create a new school in Nawantumbi, a remote and until now unsupported community in the eastern part of the country.
I interviewed Michael and GIVE International founder Ryan Snyder and while my fingers worked at the account I understood that building a school in Uganda would become my task too. I could join as a volunteer to help build up the school and raise bucks for everything from chairs to paper, virtually all of which are in short supply in the children’s present mud-walled school. GIVE International is a smaller group with only two Canadian team members and nine Ugandans who enthusiastically organize GIVE’s assignments in their country in addition to managing volunteers. I shall end up one of those willing volunteers on Sept. 28 for a two week assignment.The fundamental challenge at this time is to raise funds and my employer, The Waterloo Region Record, hosted a silent auction for my cause, generating $600. But I really needed something much larger, something that might bring in at the very least $10,000. My friend Karen Dowell developed the notion of a Dream Auction, offering services people just can’t buy in a retail store.
With a concept now in position, it was time to begin recruiting assistance and asking for contributions of items and experiences. Though the collection isn’t yet complete, it is impressive at this point: a quarter page advert in The Record, valued at above $5,000. There’ll be original art, a song composed for the winning bidder by singer/songwriter Sue B. Proud, a one hour journey in a 1962 Amphicar on Lake Conestoga. There are event tickets to theatres and music, surprise baskets, belly dancing lessons and even a personal acting class with professional actor, Terry Barna. Check in regularly as we add a whole lot more options to the list.
The occasion, known as A Dream For Uganda, takes place Saturday, June 11, 7:30 p.m. at THEMUSEUM, down-town Kitchener and will come with snacks, cash bar, silent auction and entertainment by the Celtic band, The Shenanigans along with full admission to THEMUSEUM’s displays.
Every single penny raised will go towards the developing and equipping of the Walper School, and I ‘ll be there to write about the project first hand.
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