Get Involved!
The H&H Auction is a massive endeavour made possible only through the participation of interested volunteers. There are countless ways for you to help out and any amount of effort you can lend is always much appreciated.
The various responsibilities necessary for the H&H Auction's successful execution are divided amongst a number of committees. Below, we've listed each of the committees along with their chairperson(s) and a brief description of their responsibilities. You can participate in organizing the H&H Auction by serving on any one of them. To get involved, please contact the listed committee chair(s) or email Amanda King.
Thank you for your interest!
Logistics
Contact: Amanda King
The Logistics Committee is responsible for preparing and overseeing the whole event. This includes organizing the atrium art show, finding an auctioneer, finding the appropriate food catering service, obtaining the wine and other beverages, and organizing the decorations (tables, chairs, flowers) -- all through donations and a limited budget. During the silent event, this committee is responsible for gathering, organizing, and displaying items as needed. The bulk of the work takes place the week of the auction, but preparation is ongoing!
Budget
Contact: Harib Ezaldein
The Budget Committee primarily handles all money transactions in the events leading up to the auction and all donation collections during and after the auction. Time commitment is minimal during the beginning of the year and is substantial in the week and day of the auction. We are also responsible for following up with patrons the week after the auction.
Education
Contact: Allie Albert and Ramak Khosrvai
The Education Committee is responsible for promoting awareness of the issues most seriously affecting the hungry and homeless population in New Haven and how these needs are/hope to be addressed. This committee is in charge of bringing in speakers, putting together discussion panels, organizing educational displays for the library and hospital, and making sure that the educational mission of the auction is incorporated into the event itself. Volunteers will be needed to help organize and facilitate each of these events. Time commitment is flexible and minimal until the month before the event.
Entertainment
Contact: Kavita Mistry and Mike Hajek
The Entertainment Committee is in charge of planning the annual "First Year versus Second Year H&H Football Game," organizing the after-parties for the football game and the auction, and selling the football T-shirts. Not a huge time commitment (approximately 4 to 6 hours total per person) but a lot of fun!
Grants
Contact: Eve Overton and Dimitri De Kouchkovsky
The Grants Committee consists of a group of medical, EPH, nursing, and PA students. Through a series of meetings throughout the end of September and October we will decide which community organizations in New Haven will receive the money raised from the Hunger and Homelessness Auction. First-year committee members are assigned to represent several organ3izations. As an organization representative they must perform an on site visit in which they tour the facilities and then prepare a PowerPoint presentation for the grant committee. Afterwards, the committee will request interviews with selected organizations and choose 6-7 to award the funds from the auction. Our work is mostly completed before November.
Publicity
Contact: Joan Chow and Connie Cheng
The Publicity Committee is responsible for publicizing the auction to the Yale and the New Haven community. This includes writing and issuing press releases, sending out invitations, making the event programs, putting up posters, and proposing creative ways to promote the auction to Yale students, faculty, and alumni, and affiliates. Time commitment will be minimal until a month before the event.
Information Technology
Contact: Gregory Breuer
The Information Technology Committee is concerned with the development and maintenance of supportive technologies to better communicate with H&H Auction patrons and volunteers. Major responsibilities include technical upgrades to better the look and feel of the website, setting up online donations, and coordinating with other committees and the larger Yale ITS community to ensure that information technology needs are met appropriately. Your work will start right away.
Alumni Donations
Contact: Connie Cheng
This committee aims to encourage Yale Med alumni to participate in the auction through both attendance and donations. Alumni are a significant resource for the auction since they have strong ties to our school and the New Haven community as well as greater financial means than students. Committee members will be needed for initiating contact with alumni, including a mass mailing and some one-on-one correspondence by handwriting letters to specific alumni. Depending on the response from alumni, committee members may also be involved in helping individual alumni make donations or arrange to visit Yale the week of the auction. The necessary time commitment for this committee should be minimal (a few hours in October).
Faculty Donations
Contact: Adele Ricciardi
The Faculty Donation Committee e-mails/calls/meets with various professors, staff, and administrators to encourage them to donate and attend the auction. Volunteers will be assigned a few faculty members to contact. We have a list of faculty members who have donated in the past, but are also looking for creative ideas to get more faculty involved. This is a great opportunity to get to know some of your professors! The time commitment is flexible, but should be between 4-6 hours total.
Student Donations
Contact: Jordan Gruskay and Sean Bickerton
The Student Donation Committee's job is to get as many medical, EPH, PA, and nursing students as possible to make donations to the auction. We will meet briefly to talk about ideas for getting students to participate. This may include advertising directly to students, making announcements in class, and directly contacting classmates for donations. Committee members will each be responsible for asking a small but targeted list of classmates for contributions. This committee requires no more than a 5-10 hour time commitment.
Local Donations
Contact: Michaela Bamdad
The local donations committee is responsible for collecting donations from local businesses that can be auctioned off at the silent auction.. Groups of 2-3 volunteers will be assigned to a particular part of the city, which they will visit and ask merchants for auction items. The time commitment will probably total a maximum of 6 hours, but all of the work is flexible and can be done at each group's convenience. Also, all of the work will be done by November, so volunteers can enjoy the auction stress-free while still knowing they made a huge contribution!
Corporate Donations
Contact: Luis Rubio
This committee is in charge of expanding the big-ticket donations from the previously untapped corporate world. Suggestions have been made to solicit both auctions items (airline tickets, Yale club vacations, theater packages, ski vacations, privately guided museum tours, CT vineyard wine packages etc.) as well as substantial monetary donations (such as pledging to donate a certain percentage of funds raised). Committee members are assigned to several companies and are asked to pursue them with vigor in an effort to secure as many donations as is possible. Some assignments are more involved such as sending informational FAXes or calling companies that have donated in the past or have already been contacted. The time commitment is minimal (~3 hours per week), and members are free to work on their own schedule.