A Touching Story from the Silent Auction at the 80th Past President's Dinner

During our Past President's Dinner held November 7, 2001, an anonymous bidder purchased one of the Silent Auction donations, a Cremona student violin with bow and case. The story behind the purchase was told at the dinner and was so touching that it warranted repeating here.

Claudia Dickman, one of our members, has an 11-year-old foster child as a client. The foster child recently changed placements after spending approximately 5 years in her previous placement. The new placement was a difficult change for many reasons. Once the child moved to the new placement she wanted her violin from the previous placement so that she could join her new school's orchestra. She learned, however, that her old violin had been given away and was disappointed.

Claudia saw the new student sized violin donated by A Music Connection at our silent auction table. Coincidently, Donna Hitchens, the Unified Family Court presiding judge, was at our Past President's dinner as well. Claudia asked Judge Hitchens if the Court would be interested in paying for the violin for the foster child. After all, the Court sits in parentis patriae, and Claudia thought that it would be appropriate for a "parent" to buy a child what he or she needs. Judge Hitchens suggested that Claudia bid on the violin. So, Claudia put a bid down for the violin. Then, someone, calling herself Anonymous, stated she wanted to purchase the violin and donate it to a foster child. Claudia did not question that and the Anonymous bidder was the high bidder for the violin. Ultimately, Claudia was given that violin to deliver to her client. When Claudia gave the foster child the violin, the child was thrilled since the auctioned violin was brand new and her old one was not. The foster child showed Claudia the one she had been borrowing from school. The new violin was so much nicer than the borrowed one. In fact, the new one was a "REAL" violin and the other one was only plastic. Also, there was a card in the case from the store that donated the violin to the auction. The foster child saw the card and told Claudia that she knew the store and used to go in there all the time to look at the things she wanted, but could not afford.

The purchase and gift of this violin was a wonderful and significant event for this child. The child is extremely grateful for the gift. The anonymous bidder should know that she has done a very good and selfless deed for someone in need. Thank you, Ms. Anonymous for your donation and the happiness it has brought to a young person during this holiday season.