Brittany Westerberg

For a fun Thanksgiving or Christmas gift, look through the baskets in the Dean of Family and Consumer Sciences’ office. They are part of a silent auction being held to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.

According to Sally Gillman, faculty advisor to the campus chapter for Habitat for Humanity and a professor in the college of FCS, the fundraiser began three years ago when the college decided that they wanted to do something for Habitat for Humanity.

They first created a “Bowling for Habitat” event in the fall of 2005. Each student club and organization from the College of FSC-including the honor society Phi Upsilon Omicron-contributed a basket to be auctioned off during the bowling event at Prairie Lanes bowling alley. Throughout the evening, individuals bid on each basket by writing their bids down on a slip of paper. All monies raised were sent to the Brookings Area Habitat for Humanity. A similar event was held in the fall of 2006.

This year, the College of FCS decided to just hold the silent auction because it was the most successful part of the event in the past two years, according to Associate FCS Professor Debra DeBates.

“This is a great opportunity to contribute to Habitat for Humanity as well as have fun out-bidding your friends to get your favorite basket,” DeBates said. “You could keep the basket or use it as a Christmas gift.”

DeBates worked with the students and established guidelines for the baskets, created a list of suggested themes and set up the baskets in the Dean’s office.

There will be a table set up on Main Street in The Union during the next two weeks. The baskets are also displayed on the college Web site, DeBates said, so that alumni and others outside of the campus community can bid.

The silent auction will end in December.

“The auction has generated a lot of discussion,” DeBates said, “and it has been a lot of fun. We hope we will be able to give a very generous donation to Habitat as a result.”

#1.883143:3573811473.jpg:FCSsilentauction.jpg:The baskets contributed for the silent auction are on display in the main office of the College of FCS.:Blair Rau