Student-sponsored auction raises $12,000 for Worcester Free Medical Clinics

Dan Choi of the Class of 2014 proudly shows off the giant Puma basketball shoe he just purchased to Linda Lei Xie ’14 (right). The shoe was donated to the auction by Shaula Forsythe ’14.

Bidding on items ranging from a sushi dinner to an unusually large Puma basketball shoe, participants in the 2010 COMECC Charity Auction, sponsored by the School of Medicine Student Body Committee (SBC), donated more than $12, 000 to support of the Worcester Free Medical Clinics. 

“We really want to emphasize the extremely generous nature of the faculty, staff, students, family and friends associated with the Medical School, who donated to the auction and bid so enthusiastically,” said Matthew Janko, one of the members of the Class of 2014 who organized the event. Many people helped make the auction a success, he said, including members of the SOM second-year class; Environmental Building Services Supervisor Anthony Covello; Director of Parking and Transportation Bill Tsaknopoulos; Auxiliary Services Administrative Assistant Becky Chlapowski; Senior Associate Dean of Education Michele Pugnaire, MD; SOM Dean Terence R. Flotte, MD; Chancellor Michael F. Collins; and Ziti’s Restaurant. “This event would not have been possible without their support. We had a wonderful time raising money for a very important cause.” 

Harvey Clermont, MD, addressed the audience as a special guest speaker on behalf of the Worcester Free Medical Clinics, for which he is the lead coordinator and physician. 

Members of the SOM SBC who organized the event were Katie Goble, Sara-Grace Reynolds, Peter Brancale, Daryl Blaney, Matthew Janko, David Wang, Stuart Murray, Kristina Prachanronarong, Robert Day and Sean Smirnov. The auction was hosted by Matthew DeWolf and Oksana Babchenko. David Wang took the photographs. 

Sara-Grace Reynolds, left, and Parisa Samimi ’14, made the registration table into a barrel of laughs.	Matt DeWolf ’14, one of the auctioneers, eggs on a bidder, as Katie Goble keeps a tally.	The 2010 COMECC Charity Auction committee: from left, Daryl Blaney, Peter Brancale, Matthew DeWolf, Sara-Grace Reynolds, Matthew Janko, Oksana Babchenko and Katie Goble.