The Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation hosted today’s “Welcome Home Luncheon,” which is used in part to raise awareness and money for the foundation’s outreach in the community. Both the cost of the ticket for the luncheon, as well as the live and silent auctions are used to benefit those initiatives.
Today’s live auction was conducted by John Nicholls of Nicholls Auction Marketing Group. Emcee and former Redskins tight end Rick ‘Doc’ Walker introduced him with the superlative, “He connects with your mind in a way that motivates your wallet.”
And apparently, it worked.
The Redskins auctioned off six great prize packages that raised $18,200 for the foundation. The coolest one, by far, was the Super Bowl XLVI Package that takes two fans back to Indianapolis for this February’s big game.
Hopefully they’ll be joined by other Washingtonians.
The silent auction had not yet been tallied when the event was over, but estimates put the total amount well over $10,000 dollars. Some of the Redskins prizes for the silent auction included:
- A Billy Kilmer autographed football
- A Bruce Smith signed jersey
- A Chris Cooley signed jersey
- A Joe Gibbs signed football
- A helmet signed by head coach Mike Shanahan and general manager Bruce Allen.
No kidding, I actually saw cornerback DeAngelo Hall bid on the helmet.
For the rest of you sports fans, there were also items from other teams, including:
- A DC United team-signed jersey
- An Orioles Adam Jones signed baseball
- A Terry Bradshaw signed football
- A Washington Capitals team-signed home jersey
- A Washington Nationals team-signed baseball.
Here’s a slideshow of some of the prizes:
Click to view slideshow.But there was one prize that I truly did not understand: the team-signed Dallas Cowboys football. Instinct encouraged me to grab it off the table and Sav-Rocca-it out of the hotel:
Fear not though, as cooler heads prevailed. After all, the Redskins Charitable Foundation inevitably sold the item, and the member of Redskins Nation will benefit from the Dallas Cowboys.
Now that is poetic justice.
