On Oct. 23, NSU’s Cozy Corners will host a silent auction in the Don Taft University Center to raise funds to remodel the bedroom of a Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital patient.
Cozy Corners is an NSU student organization that, in the words of Co-founder and President Gaby Teixeira, junior biology major, does “extreme home makeovers” to celebrate a child’s release from longterm hospitalization.
Teixeira said the remodeling is a surprise to the recipient.
“They don’t know we’re coming, but their parents do and we work really closely with them to try to to make their dreams come true,” she said.
The silent auction will begin at 3 p.m., though the main fundraiser will start at 6 p.m. with a “Sweets by the Pound” bake sale, in which items will be sold by weight. The silent auction will begin earlier to encourage more participants and accomodate students’ busy schedules.
During the silent auction, participants will bid on themed baskets donated by NSU organizations, local businesses and anonymous donors. Teixeira hopes to have at least 15 baskets.
Teixeira said, “We are asking donors to pick a theme and go with it. For example, if you wanted to do a movie night basket, you’d put popcorn and a couple of movies, maybe even movie tickets and a gift card to the local movie theater.”
The event organizers will determine a starting bid for each basket and bidders will write their name and contact information on the sheet in front of that basket, as well as the maximum amount they are willing to pay for it. At the end of the night, Cozy Corners members will call the winners to arrange a way to receive their baskets.
The fundraiser will be open to the public but Teixeira particularly hopes for faculty and staff involvement in the silent auction.
“We understand that college students aren’t the wealthiest. For example, I know I wouldn’t be able to pay for a basket,” she said. “So we are hoping that the faculty and staff will come in and help us reach our goal.”
Unlike other bake sales, baked goods at the “Sweets by the Pound” bake sale will be priced according to their weight, not a set price.
Teixeira said, “Instead of just going and buying a cookie or a brownie, we are going to have you start at the beginning of the tables and grab a bag and say, ‘I want a cookie and I want a slice a cake and I want a muffin,’ and at the end, you weigh it. We will have a certain price per pound or per ounce, and that’s how you know how much you need to pay.”
Though this will be Cozy Corners’ second remodeling project, the group plans to do one each semester, starting with a room in mid-November. The recipient will be selected with help from a social worker at Joe DiMaggio’s.
In regards to a fundraising goal, Cozy Corners Co-founder and Treasurer Rachel Salveson, junior chemistry major, said, “Our goal amount is $1,200 because we need a $1,000 to do the room, but we want a little wiggle room in case we go over.”
Members of Cozy Corners remodel the room themselves. Teixeira said that, last year, “A bunch of us went out there. We weren’t really sure what we were doing, but luckily we had a handyman who’s a friend of someone in Cozy Corners, and he showed us how to paint a little bit.”
Sofia Alberto, a 15-year-old cancer patient who had her room remodeled by Cozy Corners in April 2012, will speak at the fundraiser, along with her parents and other family members.
To find out more about the event or the organization, email Teixeira at gt254@nova.edu. Registration is not required for the fundraiser.
