Crab Feed
Posted by Joseph Phillips, Jr. on Saturday, March 31, 2012 at 11:32 AM PDT
On March 25th we held the 10th annual alumni crab feed. The event was started by the Albers Alumni Board and has become an annual traditional. It was the first event organized by the board, and over the years there have been more than 3,000 attendees and nearly $80,000 has been raised for scholarships for Albers students.
Although raising money for student scholarships is the cause, the main reason for launching the event was friend-raising and getting alumni back to campus. In 2002, our connections with our alumni were not where we wanted them to be and the alumni board came up with the idea of the crab feed. Since the university did not have much in the way of alumni staff, in addition to coming up with the idea, the alumni board was required to EXECUTE the event, as well! They stepped up to the plate and the rest is history!
This year's alumni board Crab Feed Committee was chaired by Heather Hutson, and the committee worked closely with Rob Bourke on our staff to put the event together. Several staff from the University Advancement Office also helped with the event, but the work of our alums was critical to its success.
I had a number of people comment that they thought this year's silent auction was the best so far. Unfortunately, I did not have time to peruse the items, as I was too busy talking to people. And my wife managed to come away with only one item! People also said it was the best crab we have ever served, but I hear that every year, which I take to mean we serve good crab every year!
We try not to burden the crowd with long speeches from university administrators. Fr. Sundborg was able to attend and he gave a well received and relatively short greeting to the crowd. I, too, keep it short and just do some of the many "thank you's!" that need to be done.
This year we had over 250 people in attendance, including women's basketball coach, Joan Bonvicini, fresh off the team's successful run through the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament, making it to the semi-final round. We also raised more than $10,000 for scholarships for Albers students! That is a great cause, of course!