What a success!

All of our hard work has paid off and the auction is complete! During the day Saturday we helped with the lighting outside of Whistle Stop, decorating with Christmas lights all around the porch and entryway. That night we went back for the opening, and Downi and I assisted with the merchandise table, which gave me an opportunity to speak with Kylie about her previous experience working with BICAS and their auction. Last year, which was one of their biggest years, brought in $14,000 so I can only hope that we were able to help bring in at least that much this year! I also was able to interact with many of the guests, which was a great experience to find out more about the variety of people that are familiar with BICAS or who had just seen a poster or ad and decided to stop by. It helped answer my question about the how a community resource like BICAS is sustainable when they cater to such a large variety of populations. From the bike community, artists, the neighborhood around Whistle Stop and BICAS, families and of course the UA community, there is a wide range of populations that take advantage of what they have to offer and the auction was proof of this. It's also clear that the staff care deeply about what they do, and really enjoy it and interacting with the community.
After having had the chance to help out with the auction once before, I can honestly say that I felt this time was much more rewarding. With the change in the structure of the class and also the way we work with BICAS, mostly thanks to Casey acting as a liason, there was a better opportunity for our class to help with what needed to be accomplished. It also informed some of my questions regarding the partnership between a university and community art program, proving that when done right, it can be extremely beneficial to both parties.