Buckeye Cruise for Cancer

February 29th, 2012

List of sponsors who donated to the
Stefanie Spielman Fund.

            For the past three years, my family and I have been going on the Buckeye Cruise for Cancer. This is a chartered cruise where thousands of Buckeyes come to help support and raise money for the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research. Many former buckeye football players attend this cruise to help promote the cruise and raise money. Although I’ve been on this cruise before, this year was completely different from previous years. This cruise meant a lot to me since my family is close to the Spielman’s . We have known them for a while and we were close to Stefanie before her life was taken away by cancer. This encouraged me to think beyond capstone and make it my responsibility to do what ever it takes to help this cruise raise more money than they ever had before.

Loading the truck with the souvenir bags which
were passed out on the cruise.

            Every Thursday for two months, there was a volunteer meeting where people gathered to plan the cruise and help set it up and organize this important fundraiser.  During the first few meetings we simply stuffed envelopes with information about the cruise to inform the public about this fund raising event. Once we started to get closer to the cruise, the heavy labor piled on. Huge picture frames, boxes, couches, and even a motorcycle filled the storage room, which had to be loaded onto a truck on its way to Tampa, Florida to be put on the cruise. We spent hours of hard work accumulating all these items, which was eventually sold at the auction. After about four hours of strategically configuring these large items into the bed of the semi, the truck was on its way to meet us at the port.  

Loading the truck with NFL helmets
which were sold at the auction.

            When it was finally time to get on the cruise, I was very excited that I had the opportunity to go on a vacation yet help raise money for breast cancer research. On the first night of the cruise, there was a sponsor’s recognition where they called up all the sponsors who donated money for the cruise to make it possible. After the show, I had to help clear the stage and get it set up for the auction. There were numerous items that I had to carry onto stage for the live auction.  Some items, such as a custom Ohio State motorcycle, went for as much as thirty thousand dollars. For two nights straight, we were loading and unloading the stage with items ready to be auctioned off. Although I was feeling tired and fatigued, I kept telling myself that it was all for a good cause and that my hard work could potentially be saving people's lives in the future. The last night of the cruise, all the auction items were sold. Now, they just had to be shipped to the owner’s house, which kept me occupied for a while. I spent most of the final night on the cruise bubble wrapping all the framed pictures of Buckeye greats and putting them in separate boxes so they would be ready to ship the next day.

Helping out with the live auction

            Reflecting back on the cruise, I am happy that I had the opportunity to volunteer my time and contribute to this fundraiser’s success. Although I gave up a lot of vacation time while on the cruise, it was a sacrifice I was willing to make. During the 4-day/3 nights cruise, we managed to raise over one million dollars, doubling the profits made from last year’s cruise. Actively participating and assisting in this fundraiser gave me good insight on cancer research because without generous people like those on the Buckeye Cruise, cancer research would not be possible. The generous proceeds given to this specific charity could potentially come up with a new development that would save millions of lives.