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Panel discussion about current issues in healthcare professions at the "Art for Hope" silent bid auction. Photo by Abby Toms

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On the afternoon of Jan. 31, students and community members gathered at Art for Hope, a fundraiser to both promote and raise money for the free clinic Hope Community Health Center, which opened on Oct. 15, 2008.

The original idea of the fundraiser came from a night of brainstorming last summer by senior Mingee Kim, MCB and communications major and the volunteer coordinator for the clinic, along with senior Christine Knight, IB major and the fundraising coordinator for the clinic.

“It kind of exploded into the idea of having a silent auction,” said Knight. “With that, we decided we could do something that could inspire young kids in the community who don’t really know about careers in health care to get to know more about what’s going on in Champaign County in terms of what different careers are available.”

After the idea was stated, the volunteers needed a name and a means of organizing the event.

“The reason we call it Art for Hope is ... it’s kind of two-fold,” said Knight. “The place is called Hope, but also ... the hope that even in this economy or even in this community, we can build up this free clinic so that we can help people get health care.”

The volunteers booked the room in order to start the process of developing their idea into an event.

After e-mailing faculty and friends, Knight said, they held an awareness Art for Hope party on Oct. 25, 2008.

“[It] got students aware of the clinic’s existence,” said Knight. “[It] got some people to think about donating.”

The first half of the event consisted of a panel discussion entitled “Careers in Healthcare,” which had people from various fields, including Cherie Oshiro, who spoke about optometry, Vitaly Stepensky, MD/PhD candidate from the University, and Barclay Milton, who spoke about being a nurse practitioner.

During the discussion led by Dr. Cris Medrano, founder and CEO of Hope Community Health Center, questions included specifics about each of the panelists’ individual field of study and also questions related to family life.

“I had wanted to do the panel for a long time,” said Medrano. “I think it’s something the students don’t get exposed to enough. They don’t get to hear sort of the personal stories of the people that they are thinking they want to become in the future.”

Students that are not planning on having a career in the medical field also attended this event.

Sophomore Justine Salva, majoring in industrial design, attended the event with some other members of her sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma. She explained what she learned from sitting through the panel discussion.

“It increased my admiration and respect for them ... [to] get to see how much [work] they put into it,” she said.

The second half of the fundraiser was a silent bid auction. According to Kim, artists within both the local and student communities donated the art pieces at the auction. The proceeds from this auction are going straight toward the clinic.

Nikki Hillier, a member of the Champaign community, came to the auction in hopes of finding artwork for her house.

“I thought we can help out the Hope Center,” she said.

T-shirts and meal coupons from Houlihan’s were also available at the event, due to donations.

Knight explained they had multiple goals for the outcome of the event.

“First and foremost, to bring different kind of like sects of the community together and to get behind this community organization,” said Knight.

She also mentioned different individuals within the community, such as students, faculty, people within the medical care field, community members and artists.

“All of these individuals don’t necessarily have to be separate in their goals,” she said. “It’s to bring people into connection and make that space where people can open up communication.”

A second reason for the event was to raise money, though Medrano, Kim and Knight all have hopes of raising awareness for the clinic as well as health care issues within the CU community.

“For all of us, it’s not necessarily raising money for the clinic,” said Kim. “It’s more about bringing awareness to people that this issue does exist and that we can bring people together ... and be in one common place and celebrate hope.”

Though their initial reason for the event was not necessarily to raise money, they did raise more than $1,300 from the auction and

the T-shirts.

According to the volunteers, most of the advertising, for both the event and the clinic, is by word of mouth.

However, upon the clinic’s opening, Medrano called local hospitals as well as the Frances Nelson Health Center, which did, and still does, refer people to Hope Community Health Center, according to Medrano.

As for the volunteers’ favorite parts about working at the clinic, both Kim and Knight learn from daily occurrences and from Medrano.

“I think my favorite part is Dr. Medrano just trusts us so much,” said Kim. “You never leave the clinic without learning something new that day. You get to see a different side of health care that’s not plastered on billboards and see a different population that comes through.”

Medrano’s favorite part includes fulfillment within the community.

“It’s fulfilling a need,” she said. “The fact that somewhere out there, someone is suffering. And if they hear about us, then we give them hope.”