EDINBORO, Pa. (April 8, 2013) – The Edinboro Student-Athlete Advisory Committee held its fifth annual Student-Athlete Auction for Make-A-Wish on Thursday, April 4 at the Frank G. Pogue Center.  The event was held in front of a standing-room only crowd and produced record-setting donations. 

All told, a new record of over $4,200 was raised as the SAAC seeks a goal of $8,000, or the equivalent of two wishes.  The total doesn't include donations that were received prior to the event, and you can still make donations by sending a check made out to Make-A-Wish to Bruce Baumgartner at 455 Scotland Road, Edinboro, PA 16444.  In addition, funds will be raised on April 21 through the Make-A-Wish Volleyball Tournament, sponsored by the Student Government Association.  All told, the Make-A-Wish donations for the year total $6,200.

Last year's auction raised the previous record of $2,314.  In addition to the auctioning off of 22 student-athletes, a raffle was held with Edinboro University President Dr. Julie Wollman the prize, along with Baumgartner and swimming coach Chris Rhodes.  The night was spiced up even further as four videos were shown, including the annual production by the cross country team.  This year's video was a take-off on the movie Back to the Future, and in a supporting actor role featured long-time head coach Doug Watts.

“It was a phenomenal event,” exclaimed Baumgartner.  “We raised well over $3,000 and have now raised over $6,000.  It really is amazing to see the talent of our students when it comes to the videos.  It was pretty cool.”

Baumgartner also praised the assistance of Timothy Thompson's organizational communication class for the assistance they provided.

Student assistant men's basketball coach Matt Lynch and Bobby Davis, a member of the men's basketball team, served as emcees.  The highest bid went for Bryan Baumgartner, representing the track team, with the winning bid totaling $310.  Rhodes went for $280, and women's soccer player Liz Debo was next at $230, followed by volleyball player Erin Schatzle at $205.  Over $200 was raised in the raffle for Dr. Wollman.