Thirty-six people showed up to participate in the “Date a Veteran Auction” hosted by Grand Valley State University’s
Student Veterans Organization at the Main Street Pub on Friday.

The SVO raised $424 in its first-ever fundraiser; $252.40 went to the SVO and $169.60 went to the Wounded Warrior Project, a group is that closely tied to the student organization.

The main purpose was to raise money and awareness and to have fun for a good cause, said auctioneer Steve Brown, who served in the cavalry in Iraq.

A $5 minimum bid was granted for each veteran and the goal was to have the winners buy a meal for them to raise funds for the SVO.

Eighteen veterans were auctioned off for the event, who had served in wars ranging from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.

“I really like how we raised so much money, but, one thing I didn’t like about it was that there were a lot of veterans doing the bidding on the auction,” said Justin Lewis, president of the SVO and a Marine Corp veteran auctioned off. “One of the main points of our fundraiser was so that we could enlist the public’s aid in the donations, but it turns out that a lot of the veterans were in the giving spirit.”

However, the citizens in the crowd joined in with the veterans to cheer on those being auctioned off and playfully poke fun at them, even challenging them to do push-ups reminiscent of boot camp after a certain bid was raised.

“I also liked that we were very comedic, but I wish we could have had a lot more public there to overwhelm the veterans,” Lewis said.

Mike Zulauf, a veteran who was auctioned off, said he was thankful for how much money was raised.

“I was very thankful that I made the five dollar minimum bid and had a great time with my date,” Zulauf said, but added that he was dissatisfied with the turnout. “I was disappointed there weren’t more people that showed up to bid on veterans, especially after all the work the Pub did as well as Steve Brown getting this thing rolling.”

For some participants, like the auctioned off World War II veteran Bob Cline, the night was just a good time to reflect on military experience.

“Everybody worked in the service,” Cline said as he remembered the Pearl Harbor bombings and his service in Scotland. “We were all patriotic.”

Brown said that, in all, the main goal of this event was to show support for veterans, and that he hopes for a better turnout next year.

“I was hoping a lot more people showed up,” he said. “By next year we can improve.”

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