December 17, 2008
Christmas carols played as members of the St. John’s
University community shared in the spirit of the holiday season by
participating in the annual St. John’s Bread and Life Silent
Auction.
Photo Gallery
On December 4th, over $6,300 was raised through the sale of raffle
tickets, grab-bag items, and silent auction bids. Through the
combined efforts of numerous departments, a variety of items were
collected and auctioned, including St. John’s Athletics apparel, Tobin
College of Business keepsakes, dinner for two or four at local
restaurants, lotto Christmas trees, “treasures” for the home and
baskets of cheer. Yearly favorites, such as the authentic
Lou Carnesecca sweater and signed basketball, topped the list
of available auction items.
The Silent Auction is an annual tradition that was reintroduced to
the University eight years ago as a means of raising much-needed
funding for the Bread and
Life Soup Kitchen. Founded in 1982, by a Vincentian
Pastor and Daughter of Charity from St. John the Baptist Parish,
the Bread and Life Soup Kitchen was created to help restore human
dignity to those in need.
Due in large part to generous donations and fundraising events like
the Silent Auction, the Bread and Life Soup Kitchen was able to
move from its original location in the Brooklyn’s Bedford
Stuyvesant community to a much larger neighborhood facility at 75
Lexington Avenue. Special features of the
new facility include a restaurant style dining area and digital
choice food pantry.
“The Silent Auction goes a long way in meeting the ever-growing
needs of St John’s Bread and Life. It truly captures the spirit of
the season and it is great to see all the wonderful people who have
donated their time, abilities and resources to those in need this
holiday season. It’s just another example of how St John’s
University lives out its
Vincentian mission of devoting its ‘intellectual and physical
resources to search out the causes of poverty and social injustice
and to encourage solutions which are adaptable, effective, and
concrete,’” said Anthony Butler, Executive Director of St. John’s
Bread and Life program.
Through the tireless efforts of employees, volunteers and community
advocates, the Bread and Life program has become an instrument of
long-range empowerment and community-building:
“The needs of the hungry go beyond emergency food. The Bread
and Life Program endeavors to provide services, as well as meals,
to all guests in an atmosphere of dignity and respect for the
individual. We rely heavily on donations, and events like the
Silent Auction are very helpful in allowing the Bread and Life
Program to continue its critical mission. As a member of the
board and a volunteer, I am extremely grateful for the generosity
of the St. John’s University community for their hard work and
participation in this annual fundraiser,” said Mary P. Tobin, Vice
Chair of St. John’s Bread and Life Board of Directors and Managing
Trustee for the Peter & Mary Tobin Family Foundation.
Bread and Life’s unique relationship with the University has
established the groundwork for effective, sustained community-based
research, service-learning and other collaborations aimed at
increasing students’ and employees’ understanding of
poverty.
Serving as a volunteer student leader through
Vincentian Initiative to Advance Leadership (V.I.T.A.L), Rob
Cote shared his enthusiasm for the annual fundraising event:
“This is my second year volunteering for the Silent Auction. There
has to be a means to provide all of the services of the soup
kitchen, and the Silent Auction is a fun way to provide those
means. I have a great time working at the Silent Auction. It
gives me an opportunity to do a little Christmas shopping, as well
as watch others try to outbid each other up until the final
bell. It's always exciting to see who will win.”
For more information on the Silent Auction, please contact the
Silent Auction Committee at (718) 990-2125 or (718) 990-6173.
To make a donation to the St. John’s Bread and Life Program, please
visit their Web site at www.breadandlife.org.