The Student Veterans Organization at Grand Valley State University will host its first fundraiser at its “Date a Veteran Auction” tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Main Street Pub.

Both male and female veterans across a wide age range will be auctioned off with one date per person, said Justin Lewis, SVO president.

Steve Brown, the auctioneer at the event, said there is a $5 minimum bid for dates, and married couples can pay $30 to buy a veteran a meal. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Benefits will go to the SVO and the Wounded Warrior Project, said Lewis, who served four years in the Marine Corps.

“The Student Veterans Organization has been around for about three years and has sat in the shadows,” he said. “We are getting a little more involved, and have decided to do some fundraising for the organization so we can develop more of an image.”

Lewis said the SVO has received cooperation from other universities like Davenport University and Western Michigan University, as well as the National Guard.

Brown, who became a soldier after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and served in the Calvary in Iraq, said the main goal of the auction is to show support for veterans, as well as raise money and awareness. He said the SVO is important to the community because when soldiers are discharged from the military, they often have problems fitting into society and finding their niche.

“Veterans have the highest suicidal, unemployment and homeless rates in the country,” Brown said.

Mike Zulauf, SVO financial officer, also became a soldier after Sept. 11 and will be on the frontlines of the auction.

“I will be auctioned off in this event and will be wearing my flight suit that I wore at Shaw Air Force Base where I received my incentive flight in the F-16,” he said. “Also, (I would like the ladies) to know I have a twenty-two foot sailboat in Muskegon, Mich., and love romantic evenings out on the water.”

Lewis said the SVO is dedicated to helping all American veterans, not just students. The organization is closely tied to Mary Free Bed’s Wounded Warrior Program for Traumatic Brain injuries, which assists injured service members and raises public awareness of the needs of injured veterans.

For more information about the GVSU Student Veterans Organization, go to www.gvsu.edu/veterans.

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