2008 Woodie Awards
Foundation offers athletes
Make-A-Wish gives chance to date teams.
CAREY O'NEIL
Issue date: 10/6/08 Section: News
It's a win-win situation: help make a child's wish come true and score a date with some of the University's star athletes also.
The University's Make-A-Wish Foundation will hold its second annual date auction at 8 tonight at Wild Wing Café.
Attendants will place bids on dates with athletes, and all proceeds will go to grant the wish of an Athens child with a life-threatening illness.
Patricia Miller, a senior from Winston-Salem, N.C., and co-president of the University chapter, will be the auction's emcee, introducing the mystery athletes to be auctioned.
"We can't name names because we have some very high-profile athletes, and they didn't want their names to be yelled around campus," Miller said. "But there will be players from the baseball, tennis, swimming and diving, football, rugby and track and field teams."
Winning bidders will meet their dates in one week for dinner at Wild Wing Café.
"We didn't want things to get awkward, so athletes will sit with their teammates and the girl who won them," she said. "So if you win a date with a football player, you're going on a date with the whole football team."
Emily Reider, a senior from Peachtree City and chapter co-president, said she can't wait for the event. "We're hoping for a lot of people. Last year it was huge, we had hundreds of people out there."
Miller said last year's auction was large.
"We ended up breaking every fire code violation. We just packed the place and ended up raising $4,000."
Make-A-Wish will accept donations as well. Miller said last year one person donated $600.
"If everyone who showed up last year donated a dollar, we would have made an additional $500."
Each semester, the group is assigned to grant a wish for a local Athens resident. Last year's auction raised more than half the money for 3-year-old Olivia Cheek's wish.
"She initially asked for a donkey," Miller said. "We had to make something up, so we told her eBay was all out of donkeys. Next she asked to go on a big fun boat ride, so we planned a trip for her to go on a Disney cruise with her family."
Reider has been involved with the foundation for four years, has had the opportunity to work with several children and plans to continue to volunteer after graduation.
"It's nice to see how it affects the local community," she said. "Since Make-A-Wish is everywhere, I'll be a volunteer wherever I go."
Reider worked with 17-year-old Katrina Rushing, an Athens resident diagnosed with leukemia.
"I wished to go to Disney World and we went during spring break last year. It was great," Rushing said.
Rushing finished her treatment in January, and has been doing well since then.
Miller said she hopes tonight's auction will be as successful as last year's.
"It's just a night to go celebrate with your friends and potentially win a hot date."
The University's Make-A-Wish Foundation will hold its second annual date auction at 8 tonight at Wild Wing Café.
Attendants will place bids on dates with athletes, and all proceeds will go to grant the wish of an Athens child with a life-threatening illness.
Patricia Miller, a senior from Winston-Salem, N.C., and co-president of the University chapter, will be the auction's emcee, introducing the mystery athletes to be auctioned.
"We can't name names because we have some very high-profile athletes, and they didn't want their names to be yelled around campus," Miller said. "But there will be players from the baseball, tennis, swimming and diving, football, rugby and track and field teams."
Winning bidders will meet their dates in one week for dinner at Wild Wing Café.
"We didn't want things to get awkward, so athletes will sit with their teammates and the girl who won them," she said. "So if you win a date with a football player, you're going on a date with the whole football team."
Emily Reider, a senior from Peachtree City and chapter co-president, said she can't wait for the event. "We're hoping for a lot of people. Last year it was huge, we had hundreds of people out there."
Miller said last year's auction was large.
"We ended up breaking every fire code violation. We just packed the place and ended up raising $4,000."
Make-A-Wish will accept donations as well. Miller said last year one person donated $600.
"If everyone who showed up last year donated a dollar, we would have made an additional $500."
Each semester, the group is assigned to grant a wish for a local Athens resident. Last year's auction raised more than half the money for 3-year-old Olivia Cheek's wish.
"She initially asked for a donkey," Miller said. "We had to make something up, so we told her eBay was all out of donkeys. Next she asked to go on a big fun boat ride, so we planned a trip for her to go on a Disney cruise with her family."
Reider has been involved with the foundation for four years, has had the opportunity to work with several children and plans to continue to volunteer after graduation.
"It's nice to see how it affects the local community," she said. "Since Make-A-Wish is everywhere, I'll be a volunteer wherever I go."
Reider worked with 17-year-old Katrina Rushing, an Athens resident diagnosed with leukemia.
"I wished to go to Disney World and we went during spring break last year. It was great," Rushing said.
Rushing finished her treatment in January, and has been doing well since then.
Miller said she hopes tonight's auction will be as successful as last year's.
"It's just a night to go celebrate with your friends and potentially win a hot date."
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