Alan Ferguson, VP of Programming and Jon Garrison, Beta Alpha Psi member, enjoy the "lull before the storm" at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum at Lowry AirForce Base in Denver, CO during the Denver Children's Hospital's Silent Auction.

by
Sally Boggs and Beryl Watters
University of Denver

Last fall the chair of the Denver Children’s Hospital’s annual Silent Auction Benefit Gala contacted the Alpha Zeta Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi for accounting assistance at this event. Ten of our members willingly volunteered their time on Saturday, September 29, 1996. The Wings Over the Rockies Museum in Denver, Colorado, with its collection of historical aircraft provided an interesting site for this splendid affair.

The event began at 6:00 p.m. with time for guests to socialize as well as to view-and hopefully to bid on-the many items donated to the auction by local businesses. The variety of merchandise was impressive, ranging from gift certificates to local stores and restaurants valued between $20 and $50 all the way up to a playhouse, a car, and even a trip to London.

For our Beta Alpha Psi members the real "action" began when the bidding closed and the guests were seated in the banquet room. Some members recorded and tabulated the bids. Others functioned as tellers who took the high bids and collected the funds from the guests. The auction itself raised over $110,000 for the benefit of the Children’s Hospital, with an impressive $15,000 of the total coming from the playhouse bid alone. Ticket sales for the gala evening and matching funds from sponsoring companies raised and additional $390,000.

Alpha Zeta was proud to have assisted in such a successful fundraising effort for this important institution.