The Sport Management Club at Syracuse University raised $48,000 for Tillie’s Touch as a result of its 19th Annual Charity Sports Auction.
During the Syracuse men’s basketball game on Nov. 28, supporters purchased items and placed bids on sports memorabilia, electronics, jewelry, gift baskets, experiences, books, and trips, among other items. In addition to the in-person event, an online auction was held where online supporters placed bids on hundreds of items.
Tillie’s Touch strives to make children’s dreams of playing a sport possible while helping them to achieve academic excellence. Tillie’s Touch provides the necessary sports and/or school equipment for a child when their family is unable to do so.
Apex Entertainment served as the Title Sponsor for the 2023 auction.
The SPM Club is a student-run organization in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics’ Department of Sport Management.
Since its founding in 2005, the club has raised more than $712,000 for local charities. Previous beneficiaries of the club’s annual charity auction include Boys & Girls Clubs, Golisano Children’s Hospital, the Ronald McDonald House Charities of CNY, the Central New York SPCA, the Upstate Cancer Center, Special Olympics New York, Food Bank of CNY, the Salvation Army, Rescue Mission Alliance, American Diabetes Association, Make A Wish CNY, Meals on Wheels, the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation, McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center, and Vera House.
“Our Sport Management Club was founded on the principles of teaching our membership the value of civic engagement, community service, and social responsibility through sports,” says Michael Veley, Rhonda S. Falk endowed professor and director of Sport Management, who also serves as the organization’s faculty advisor. “The countless hours of dedication by these students to ensure that the proceeds from our charity auction would benefit our community is extremely gratifying.”
The Sport Management Club meets weekly during the academic year. For more information about the annual Charity Auction, visit X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or the Charity Sports Auction website.
To promote the auction, student organizers appeared on WSYR’s Bridge Street program, WSYR NewsChannel 9, and WTVH/CNY Central.