An Auction for Change

At LAS, we strive to nurture a Spirit of Philanthropy. In line with our school mission, this spirit is integral when developing innovative, compassionate, and responsible citizens of the world. Every year the LAS Charity Auction supports two important initiatives directly connected with our community. This year’s auction took place last week and demonstrated how generous and compassionate our students are! 

The auction's first and primary initiative is the Sethule Orphans Trust in Zimbabwe, which LAS has supported for the last ten years. This year during the 2023 spring break, a group of LAS students and faculty will travel to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, to help construct new school buildings. Sethule Orphans' Trust was founded in 2005 when a rapidly increasing number of disadvantaged orphans was noticed, especially in the poorest rural communities of western Zimbabwe. This amazing charity helps link homeless orphans with foster parents who have lost their offspring. 80% of the money raised by the auction will go towards supporting this charity.

The remaining 20% will go towards our second initiative, the LAS Impact Fund. The Impact Fund provides financial support for student-centered projects that deliver impact and go above and beyond in everything we do at LAS. The support of the LAS Global Family is helping our school thrive and compete with the best experiential educational institutions in the world. Projects that have been supported by the fund this year include the Beau Site Valley View Room renovations, our new Cafe 7, and a CAS project to support an orphanage in Kenya, to name a few. 

There was a fantastic buzz in the air last Wednesday when we kicked off the auction! Our students were very excited to support these initiatives and bid on some of our fantastic prizes. Some of the bids included: American breakfast in bed, play time with Bramble the dog (and many other dogs in the LAS community!), a two-page yearbook spread, ski lessons, a trip to Vevey, homemade chocolate chip cookies, and individual French lessons, to name a few. What fantastic prizes! Thank you to everyone in our community who has donated their time and energy to these auction items.

We managed to raise a record-breaking CHF 22,000 for these initiatives, thanks to our student bidders! Philanthropy is a key value of our school, and we are so excited to see the tangible change that these donations will have on people’s lives, both at LAS and in Zimbabwe. Thank you for your generosity.