ARLINGTON, Va. — The Veterans of Foreign Wars is holding an online auction to raise money for scholarships for the children and grandchildren of veterans, and the items up for grabs are a far cry from the usual gift baskets offered during fund-raisers.
The auction, which is open through Nov. 16 on Mission Fish, eBay’s nonprofit counterpart, is offering items including a 2004 World Series ball cap, a commemorative pin and ticket stubs from this year’s series-ending Game 4, with bidding at $100 as of Wednesday morning.
At $500, there is an NASCAR trunk lid and spoiler from U.S. Army/VFW’s Pontiac, autographed by driver Jerry Nadeau. An official NFL game football autographed by the Kansas City Chiefs’ star running back Priest Holmes, meanwhile, has bidding that starts at $250. But there were no bidders as of early Wednesday.
For people whose pockets may not be quite so deep, there is a 2003 New England Patriots Conference champs T-shirt, with bidding beginning at $20. Again, no bidders yet as of Wednesday.
But not all the items are sports-related: the auction has a Lord of the Rings DVD, autographed by Sean Astin, the actor who played Hobbit Samwise Gamgee, with bids at $100 on Wednesday.
The auction is also offering David McCullough’s biography of former President John Adams, autographed by the author, with the bid as of Wednesday at $100.
The three Veteran’s Tribute Scholarships are earmarked for children and grandchildren, ages 16 to 18, of all branches, including active duty, Reserves and National Guard, and are worth $3,000, $5,000 or $10,000. The winners will be chosen based on personal academic achievement, family VFW involvement and their parent’s or grandparent’s military service.
The deadline for applying for the scholarships is Dec. 31.
To access the auction site, go to: http://members.ebay.com/ws2/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=vfwone
For more information on scholarships, go to: www.vfw.org.
