Zhytomyr Silent Auction
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(New page: {{Project |project=Zhytomyr Silent Auction |projecttype=Community Development |site=Zhytomyr |country=Ukraine |firstname=Bernadine |lastname=Clark |projectyear=2006 }} ==Summary:== Never...) |
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==Summary:== | ==Summary:== | ||
Nevertheless, we needed to raise money for a summer school for teachers at Zhytomyr State University and recruited students and teachers willing to try an experiment. Using a "Teaching Language Through Culture" theme as our guide, we took a snippet of American culture, i.e., a silent auction, and gave it a Ukrainian twist. We had meetings -- lots of them. Sometimes only two or three people came. Eventually, the same people came. During the meetings, we did the following: | Nevertheless, we needed to raise money for a summer school for teachers at Zhytomyr State University and recruited students and teachers willing to try an experiment. Using a "Teaching Language Through Culture" theme as our guide, we took a snippet of American culture, i.e., a silent auction, and gave it a Ukrainian twist. We had meetings -- lots of them. Sometimes only two or three people came. Eventually, the same people came. During the meetings, we did the following: | ||
==Subject(s):== | ==Subject(s):== | ||
| - | + | Fundraising. | |
==Story:== | ==Story:== | ||
Students and teachers said it would never work. | Students and teachers said it would never work. | ||
Latest revision as of 23:11, 2 June 2009
Info about the Zhytomyr Silent Auction
[edit] Summary:
Nevertheless, we needed to raise money for a summer school for teachers at Zhytomyr State University and recruited students and teachers willing to try an experiment. Using a "Teaching Language Through Culture" theme as our guide, we took a snippet of American culture, i.e., a silent auction, and gave it a Ukrainian twist. We had meetings -- lots of them. Sometimes only two or three people came. Eventually, the same people came. During the meetings, we did the following:
[edit] Subject(s):
Fundraising.
[edit] Story:
Students and teachers said it would never work.
Nevertheless, we needed to raise money for a summer school for teachers at Zhytomyr State University and recruited students and teachers willing to try an experiment. Using a "Teaching Language Through Culture" theme as our guide, we took a snippet of American culture, i.e., a silent auction, and gave it a Ukrainian twist. We had meetings -- lots of them. Sometimes only two or three people came. Eventually, the same people came. During the meetings, we did the following:
1. Explained what a silent auction is and how it works.
2. Gave ideas for what kinds of items could be "put up for bidding" -- books, vases, picture frames, art, decorative baskets, etc. "Where will they come from?" students asked. "How about your own homes?" we answered and invited them to look at their surroundings with new eyes. Then we asked for their suggestions (CDs, embroidery work, food). "What about local services? " we asked -- a certificate for a free haircut; free shoe repair; a ticket to a film; a free pizza, etc. Fair warning: Although we printed official letters signed by a university dean describing/authorizing the auction and role-played how to approach stores/services/cafes for auction donations, Ukrainians still were reticent to ask businesses in Zhytomyr to contribute. Not everyone turned a deaf ear, however. Auction items included two certificates for a free massage donated by a local masseuse! (They went for 10 Hg at the auction.)
3. Assigned procedural tasks (collecting and storing items prior to auction day; inventorying the items; making up bid sheets -- with minimum-bid requirements for bigger-ticket items, e.g., a jar of peanut butter from the U.S. had a minimum bid of 5 Hg; publicizing the event with posters and signs; making and displaying a list of Bidding Rules at the auction; arranging for security during the auction when items were displayed in a large room and browsers wrote their bids; collecting the money from the top bidders and distributing the items; writing thank-you notes to big-item contributors and those who helped with the auction process).
In the end, we had about 400 auction items and about 125 bidders. The silent auction raised 1000Hg for the next summer school; it's not enough to cover the cost of the 2007 edition. But a summer-school planning committee member heard someone during the auction ask, "When will we do this again?" The next silent auction is planned for February -- in time for Valentine's Day and "Women's Day" gift-giving.
We think some students and teachers at ZSU are getting the hang of how to make it work for them.
Ken and Bernadine Clark
PCV: Bernadine Clark(TEFL, Group 29)
http://www.pcukraine.org/activities/results_success_stories.php#va