Weber State Greek Life held a silent auction and benefit dinner for Shriners Hospital for Children on Friday night.

Shriners Hospital helps children under the age of 18 with orthopedic conditions and disabilities such as cleft lip and palate, as well as spinal cord injuries and burn victims.

For months now, Greek Council and members of different fraternities and sororities have been reaching out to the community for silent auction donations.

“The community was fantastic, coming together to support the event,” said Greek Council philanthropy chair Brendan Woodhall.

Businesses from Sportsman’s Warehouse to Rovali’s Italian Restaurant donated items that went into the silent auction. More than 30 donations were received from different businesses, some even as far as Wyoming.

After the dinner was served, different speakers came onto the stage to tell about their experiences with Shriners. These speakers included Shriners Hospital administrator Kevin Martin, as well as Haili Randall and her son Caden.

Caden Randall is a 6-year-old boy who is currently getting helped by Shriners Hospital for clubfeet. His parents did not have the money to get Caden the help he needed at the time, and they turned to Shriners. Haili talked about how grateful she was for Shriners and all the help they have given her son.

“It was great learning more about such an awesome cause and listening to the testimonies of their patients and their families,” said volunteer Ashley Winges.

There were around 30 people who came to this event. In the end, they raised $3,990 and still have more checks coming from different donors.

“I think the event went really well. It was pretty typical of a first-time event,” Martin said. “People start to hear about it, and each year, it gets a little bit better,”

Throughout the night, smiles spread across both volunteers’ and attendees’ faces as they did their part in helping a cause such as this.

“Everyone who came to the event was very generous and excited to be there,” Woodhall said.

Greek Council has already begun to think about ideas for next year and how to improve on this event. Woodhall said they will be taking this event and using it as a learning experience for next year.

“I’m excited to keep this event going in the upcoming years and watch it grow with hopes of being able to raise even more money for Shriners,” Winges said.

Martin was very happy with the turnout from the event and the money raised.

“It’s little things and big things like this that really make a difference for us,” Martin said. “ We can’t do what we do without the support of the community and the donations.”