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There’s No “I” in “Team”

LET: What are the weeks/days leading up to Magic Meets like for you and your team?

PW: Our planning and gathering period runs pretty much from the first of the year to June. As the MagicMeet gets closer, more and more boxes arrive until my basement looks like an extension of the Disney Store’s warehouse! Some of the volunteers who live closer to me (closer being a state or two away) will come in later May/early June to help sort the items into their respective lots. Around then is when we also figure out the exact order the lots will be presented on the tables, which is very important to be sure we can fit everything and showcase the items to look their best. Then I’ll write up the descriptions and prepare the cards we attach to each lot, and get everything ready for our Wrapping Party Weekend at the end of June. As many volunteers as can make the trip will come to arrange, photograph, wrap, label, and pack all the lots – last year we had 117 lots, so you can imagine this is a lot of work! After that, we’ll run the auction previews in the Disney World Trivia forums, showing each lot and getting people excited to bid on them. There are nine million little details that get taken care of – fliers, the bid sheets, thank you poster, press releases, publicity, etc. Then somehow it all gets loaded into our cars and it’s off to Pennsylvania! We’ll spend Friday evening and early Saturday morning setting it all up, and in a matter of hours it will be time to start thinking of Next Year!

LET: How do you go about finding/selecting volunteers, and how many folks does it usually take to accomplish the tasks the Dream Team undertakes throughout the year?

PW: For the auction, I’ve been very lucky. I have a wonderful group of volunteers. Many of them have been involved since the first auction in 2006, but we’re always welcoming new ones. Almost all of them are active members of the DisneyWorldTrivia.com forums. They participate in planning the lots. Many of them make very generous donations of items to fill our theme baskets. They help sort, wrap, and transport the items to the meet. Then they spend almost all of their time at Magic Meets setting up, keeping the auction running, and cleaning up afterwards. We joke that I chain them to the tables, but truthfully many of them come just to help with the auction and they love it.

This year we have about 20 people volunteering in various capacities for the auction. Some are just involved in the planning, some will help set up, and about 13 will be spending the day of the meet working the tables. We also have our button girls, two teenagers who give up the day to help out selling our “I helped make a child smile” buttons and I think we’ll have another item available this year as well. April Baker, who is returning again as assistant coordinator, also does all our graphics work and much more. I couldn’t do what I do without her, or without the incredible support I receive from the entire auction volunteer team.

What is so wonderful about the Dream Team Project is that it is really an umbrella for many individual fundraising efforts with a common goal. So while the auction is currently the single largest undertaking, there are other people who organize other ways to raise money throughout the year. Efforts like Eric Hollister’s WDW 1/2 Marathon Challenge on the WDW Radio Show; Jonathan Dichter’s weight loss/half marathon sponsorship; and David Petr’s WDW Radio Show’s 25 Days of Disney Giving eBay auction last December.

The Dream Team Project has always been about teamwork. So much gets accomplished when we work together. It may be my name that gets mentioned as ‘the auction person,’ but it truly is the team that deserves the credit for what we do. Because one can never say it enough: Thank you April, Janet, Tracy, Amanda, Brian, Lori, Kellie, Meg, Kelly, Linda, James, Kate, Sue, Valerie, Michelle, Tracy S., Lesa, Terry, Kathleen, Kathryn, and, as always, Lou.

See you at MagicMeets!

 

On a related note, if you still wish to make a donation to the Auction, either an item from our Wish List or another item, we need to hear from you by June first and receive all items by June 15th. Please email me ASAP at Pat @ Disneyworldtrivia .com Thank you!

 

Learn more about the Dream Team Charity Auction at MagicMeets: click here

Learn more about the Dream Team Project: click here

Please check out the Dream Team Auction Wish List & Sponsor Opportunities!

 

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About Lou Mongello

Lou Mongello is a former attorney who left the practice to pursue his passion, and is now a recognized Disney expert, author, speaker, and host of WDW Radio. Learn more…

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