On Saturday evening we had the wonderful opportunity to attend the 2012 Medical Teams International Field of Dreams dinner and auction. The dinner was held at Safeco field in Seattle, the Mariners baseball stadium. The dinner tables were set up on the infield.

The Mission of Medical Teams International is to demonstrate the love of Christ to people affected by disaster, conflict and poverty around the world. They shipped over $129 million in medical supplies and humanitarian aid to 66 countries. Their mobile dental program volunteers treated over 17,000 needy patients throughout Washington, Oregon and Minnesota, providing $8 million of free or low-cost dental care.

As we entered the stadium we had the choice to get our credit card swiped for any bid we might win during the evening event. We walked through a long very realistic and dramatic display of the types of situations where Medical Teams International travels to serve. Places like Haiti after the devastating earthquake where their help is ongoing. After the display area there was a silent auction area.

Down on the field was the dinner and live auction. There were some really great vacations, sports events, dining events and art to bid on.  Everything was way over our heads. Some items went for over $10,000 dollars which was really wonderful. There was a Fund a Need time during the auction where you could hold up your bid card to make a straight donation in the amounts of $50,000, $25,000, $10,000, $5,000, $1000, $500, $250 and $100. There were a few people that donated $50,000 and a lot of people who held up their card for the other amounts, finally I was able to hold up my card with confidence!

Last year at this event they raised $1.36 million. I wouldn’t be surprised if they surpassed that amount on Saturday night.

Our son and daughter in law with one of our son’s partner’s at Axia Home Loans who purchased the table for the evening and is involved with this mission. This next photo is of the 3rd partner and his fiance (on the right) and friends.

There were a couple of items I held my card up for at the beginning of bidding even though I knew I couldn’t win.

There were a lot of celebrities at the event. Mack Strong was the emcee for the evening. He was a fullback with the Seattle Seahawks. John Curley was the auctioneer. He is a radio show host. He really kept things moving and kept us laughing with his energy and wit.

To the left of the table #28 in the photo above is Steve Sarkisian the University of Washington Football coach. He threw footballs out to bidders in the crowd for $2000 dollars and up. Other celebrities, pastors, business owners and politicians were at this event and it was fun to see a face you are familiar with that you usually only see on TV. I was also pleased to see sponsers like Alaska Airlines, ExOfficio, Lifewise Health Plan, Boeing, Wells Fargo and many others.

Contributions of thousands of volunteers’ time and millions of dollars in donated medicines, supplies and equipment help Medical Teams International help make 97% of all donations go toward helping those they serve. That is a very impressive percentage! We felt privileged to be a part of this wonderful event and see the generosity of the people who attended.

Thank you Josh and Laura for inviting us to sit at table #15 at this great event!

I’ll be linking up with Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

Have a great week everyone!