MIT is raising money for coronavirus: Here’s a Zoom call explaining how to bid on lunch with professors

MIT is putting its brains on the auction block to help raise money for coronavirus relief.

The Cambridge university is offering up a Zoom session — or lunch post-lockdown — to the highest bidders for any of 50-plus professors and scientists participating in the “flash auction.”

It’s an altruistic spirit catching fire across every discipline.

“The greatest weapon we have is the strength of our community,” said Sharmila Chatterjee, a senior lecturer in marketing at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, “and working as one is the only way to make this (recovery) happen.”

Chatterjee, during a Zoom preview of the auction with the Herald Tuesday, said she’s “upbeat” about the economy being able to rebound — and possibly “leapfrog.”

Political science professor Adam Berinsky, who also jumped on the Zoom raffle preview, said “political misinformation” amid the pandemic and how “politics can move forward” are becoming key issues worldwide.

And Ben Shields, senior lecturer in managerial communication who is an expert on professional sports, added the coronavirus outbreak has hit every industry.

“Sports can reunite our community,” he said, echoing his colleague’s call to arms to help heal the nation.

MIT is offering up “50 luminaries at MIT” in a charity auction or $5 raffle where the highest bidder — or one winner of the raffle — have lunch with a professor.

The proceeds from the fundraiser will be disbursed to the Cambridge Community Foundation’s Cambridge COVID-19 Emergency Fund and the Cambridge Mayor’s Disaster Relief Fund for COVID-19 with the help of Community Giving at MIT.

“I share with my colleagues a feeling of responsibility to help support those who’ve been affected by the current health crisis here in our home city of Cambridge,” says David Capodilupo, assistant dean of MIT Sloan Global Programs. “This is one small — and we hope fun and interesting — way for us to give back to our local community during this challenging period.”

The fundraiser is modeled after Warren Buffett’s annual charity auction and closes Thursday at 11:55 p.m.

All donations to the auction are tax deductible. The organizers say they are open to engaging with local donor organizations interested in making matching gifts or providing other support.

“Working together, as one, is the only way to make this happen,” said Chatterjee.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2WdL30C