Confessions from one of the auction team (Iris)

Iris with a fan. (Or maybe Iris is the fan.)

Here’s a first for my blog: a guest article.

Iris, one of the Washington, D.C.-based auction team members, told me one night that she felt really inspired to write about her experiences as part of the floor crew.

I said, “Then you should write about your experiences.”

She did. It’s below.

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With a parting glance in the full length mirror I grab my coat, and make my way to my car. I am off into the night. A mix of anticipation and apprehension fills the air as I careen down the highway in search of my evening’s pursuit.

I am one of the professionally-trained floor crew for Red Apple Auctions! My charge for the evening is to have fun as I help bolster the importance, enthusiasm, and the interest of the evening’s fundraising activities.

With Sherry as the auctioneer, each of her floor crew has been prepped and readied to go out and make a difference in the final outcome of the event’s fundraising.  You can’t help but wonder what the night will bring as you step into a beautiful ballroom dressed in the theme of the event.

Will I get a hug and a thank you, as I did when I sold a guest a $100 raffle ticket and she won an African Safari trip for two?

Will I get a kiss on the cheek and a thank you as I did when I was closing the silent auction table and a gentleman was anxiously awaiting the closure? He had the winning bid of $3,000 for four bottles of wine. In the excitement of the moment he must have thought I had something to do with his winning!

Will I have to endure the awkwardness of a fighting, tipsy couple arguing over bidding on a trip to Hawaii?

Or will I have another chance to meet a charming young man with special needs that attends the school for exceptional children that we were working? (He captured my heart and my soul and at the end of a wonderful evening and his mom asked if she could take a picture of the two of us. I was honored.)

Each event has a purpose that reminds me that perhaps I can make a difference in a person’s life. Perhaps I can make the difference in someone’s day, or the day of a loved one.

Maybe the money raised tonight will make the difference in the research of a disease, make one less person homeless, or provide an education to a deserving special needs child.

As the evening ends, I grab my coat and make way to my car. I drive towards home smiling and thinking of all of the possibilities that tonight’s event may yield.