Annual auction nets more than $25,000 for New Haven charities

The annual student-run Hunger and Homelessness Auction, held on November 18, garnered more than $25,000 for New Haven charities.

The event started with a silent auction featuring California wines, fencing lessons, movie tickets, and an incomparable evening of watching sports or action movies on TV (plus dinner of corn dogs and turkey burgers).

Some off-beat services were offered by students to bidders: “I will be your running buddy for any distance and any speed”; “I will make a breakup phone call for you and explain to your significant other why the relationship is over.”

At an evening live auction, first-year students Alex Kula and Conor Brady served as auctioneers and led the bidding on items that included a faculty vs. medical student softball game; a dinner and wine tasting at the home of Dean Robert J. Alpern, M.D., Ensign Professor of Medicine; tickets to a Red Sox baseball game; and a four-hour cruise on the sailboat of James D. Jamieson, M.D., Ph.D., professor of cell biology.

This year’s proceeds will benefit Loaves and Fishes, Columbus House, New Haven Home Recovery, Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen, Community Health Care Van, and the Community Soup Kitchen.