EDPA Foundation’s Silent Auction Soars & Discovers Its Hidden Treasure: The “Grand Club”

(December 7, 2004) Atlanta, GA -- EDPA’s Annual Meeting hosted the EDPA Foundation’s 3rd Annual Foundation Celebration & Discover Hidden Treasures Silent Auction on December 3rd in St. Petersburg, Florida. Another record-breaking year, the event sold more than 70 unique items – all donated by industry members and with a little help from their “Grand Club” friends, more than $65,000 was raised benefiting the good works of EDPA Foundation.

Buyers got geared up to the familiar voice of volunteer live auction emcee, Scott Tokar of Corporate-FX, and the bidding of vacation packages. “The Silent Auction was filled with palpable excitement,” stated Silent Auction Chair MaryBeth Gieser of Abex Display Systems. Silent Auction bidding was competitive, teetering back and forth all evening on paintings, wine baskets, cigars, vintage baseball cards, autographed Muhammad Ali boxing gloves, advertising and more!

New to the Silent Auction was the creation of Opportunity Tickets allowing buyers the opportunity to win Mini iPods and portable DVD players throughout the evening proving to be a huge success bringing in $1800. “Thanks to EDPA’s loyal membership and innovative ideas, each year the proceeds continue to grow,” Gieser commented.

An eleventh-hour innovative idea discovered the evening’s hidden treasure and the formation of the “Grand Club”. Directed by masterminds Derek Gentile of Exhibit Enterprises and Rob Cohen of Display Supply & Lighting, each vowed to give $1000 to the Foundation if at least eight other people would join them on stage and vow the same. The crowd instantly exploded into cheers and within a minute $25,000 was raised for the Foundation donning them all as “Grand Club” members. “It was a chilling act of selflessness to witness 25 exhibit industry colleagues step on stage signifying their $1,000 donations to the EDPA Foundation,” stated Executive Vice President of the EDPA Foundation, Pete Dicks.

The purpose of the EDPA Foundation is to provide financial support for the families of industry members when tragedy strikes, award scholarships to engage creative thinkers who will be the leaders of tomorrow and to ensure the future of the foundation and its good work. The EDPA Foundation manages the Silent Auction. Governed by its own Board of Trustees and administered by EDPA staff provided by the Kellen Company a leading association management company, the Foundation also manages the Annual Randy Smith Memorial Golf Classic, the EDPA Scholarship Fund, the International Student Design Scholarship Competition and other charitable works. For more information about the EDPA Foundation visit www.edpaf.org.

The EDPA Foundation was created in 2001 by the Exhibit Designers and Producers Association (EDPA) which is an International organization providing a unified voice for member companies that design, build, install, service and transport portable, modular and custom exhibits for the trade show industry. For more information about EDPA visit www.edpa.com