Fundraiser organizers use technology to help nonprofit – KWCH
WICHITA, Kan. – Coronavirus concerns canceled nearly everything. However, a fundraiser for kidney disease patients is moving to Facebook Live.
“Great Chefs of the Midwest” is an annual fundraiser for the National Kidney Foundation. About 300 guests sample food and bid on auction items. When county officials banned large gatherings, the event could not happen as planned. That’s when organizers found a way to move it online.
JJ Hayes, morning radio host for KDFI, says no one wanted to cancel the event. He says kidney disease patients have compromised immune systems. They are among the population at a higher risk of serious illness for COVID-19.
He says patients and their families needed support, and the National Kidney Foundation helped local organizers make the best of the situation.
Most auction items are already open for bidding online. Sunday afternoon, organizers are auctioning a trip to Mexico on Facebook Live.
Hayes says this is a way to help others, despite the pandemic.
“This is again an opportunity to do something good, and I think we need to do something good,” Hayes says. “If you sit and dwell on just the heaviness of what’s going on all the things that are being disrupted in our every day lives and how overwhelming this can be, you need a break from that and it’s either eat your feelings, or you go ahead and you do something fun like participate in an online virtual auction like this.”
Click here to see the items currently up for auction.
Sunday, donors have a change to win the trip to Mexico on Facebook Live. It’s a eight-day, seven-night vacation to one of five resorts for four people worth $4500.
