Horrific tragedy hit a young family in a neighboring state.
Within days, friends created an online auction to raise money for funeral expenses. People from all walks of life began posting donations of whatever their specialty might be to help this family. A few of the multitudes of offerings included equestrian services, pet-sitting, a lamb, firewood, homemade delectable treats, a Dutch oven dinner, even homemade cheese. Added to the auction were Airbnb stays, quilts, photography, salon services, babysitting and house-cleaning.
About 780 unique donations were posted, and generous people stepped up to the plate, anxious to help this grief-stricken couple during their worst nightmare.
Bids didn’t start low. Heartstrings were pulled and bidders were not stingy. Early in this month-long auction, the donations were generating far more funds than this couple needed. Foundations were created for other families facing their own traumas. These shared funds could also help lift some of the financial burdens during others’ heartaches.
Although we live a distance from the heart of this colossal service experience, we bid on several items and were the highest bidder for a sour cherry pie. We requested it be delivered to our granddaughter’s home which is near where the couple live. We traveled there and shared the delicious pie with them. Sour cherries never tasted so sweet as the culmination of just one of those auction items had been lovingly created, generously delivered, and happily shared, knowing we could participate, even in a small way, in serving this sweet family.
The creativity of donations was amazing. Folks gave from their heart. They didn’t wait until they developed a new skill or created something new and exciting.
A few mentioned on the Facebook auction site that they didn’t have much to donate, but they could donate a jar of homemade jam, or some such thing.
They stopped their own lives to assess what assets and skills they had which they could share immediately and determined how they could serve this family and they gave. And gave. And gave. And generous bidders, bid and bid and bid. Then they donated and donated and donated.
Thousands of people were involved in donating and buying the philanthropic items and services.
I reached out to the generous woman who created this benevolent auction to ask her to share her insights.
Her thoughts:
Everywhere we look in our world right now there is so much hurt, anger, and frustration. People are longing for the good in the world! People are longing to be part of something that makes them feel whole again. Then this awful tragedy hit a small community. We all hurt for our friends and we felt a small bit of their pain. We all longed to take a piece of their pain away and knew this was impossible.
I had done a few of these auctions before and had success, but nothing like this auction. I knew that money wasn’t going to be their biggest challenge through this. They were going to need love; they were going to need lots of love. They were going to need love now in a COVID-19 world where people can’t hug them and congregate at their homes.
We decided to move forward with the auction. I was immediately amazed.
The auction progressed like nothing I had seen before. The outpouring of love was healing for everyone involved. It was healing for all who heard about the story and had the gut check of how this is any parents’ worst nightmare. We all found healing in seeing the good in the world. People wanted to be a part of that good. And although we could not take away the pain that this couple is feeling, as a group we were able to LOVE. I know they felt the love and it has helped them through the darkest moments of their lives.
Click here to read the February issue of Idaho Falls Magazine.