Why A College Student Is Selling Oprah's Diamond Watch On eBay

by Carol Scott · 2010-11-26 12:01:00 UTC
Topics:

Admit it: you've always wanted to score a spot on Oprah's Favorite Things, the annual episode where the daytime queen showers her audience with lavish gifts.  Her final Favorite Things episode was no different. Her audience members reacted with shrieks, tears and, in one case, "I'm gonna drop dead" to a diamond watch, a seven-day Caribbean cruise, a 3D TV and various and sundry other presents.

At least one college student in her audience, however, is putting Oprah's Favorite Things to work on eBay to help displaced Haitian college students continue their education in the United States. How's that for making change?

College of William and Mary student Danny Yates, 19, is the founder of the Hinche Scholars Project, a project that is helping Haiti rebuild its higher education system. It links the town of Hinche, Haiti with Barber-Scotia College, a historically black college in Concord, North Carolina, and the I Have A Dream Foundation in Richmond, Virginia.  Eight "Hinche Scholars" -- Haitian students whose educations were cut short due to the devastating earthquake -- are continuing their education in the U.S. After they graduate, they plan on returning to their home country in order to be leaders in the recovery process.

Yates, who experienced the earthquake in Haiti firsthand, thought he was headed to Oprah on Monday to talk about the Hinche Scholars Project and was nervously rehearsing his elevator speech on the plane to Chicago. A few minutes into the show, however, he learned that he had actually landed a coveted spot on Oprah's Favorite Things, the Daily Press of Newport News reported.  

Some people might pump their fists and call a shower of gifts from Oprah good karma. Yates, however, is paying it forward. This week, Yates wrote on the Hinche Scholars webpage, "We are auctioning these items on eBay and the profits will be used toward our scholarship fund for the students." That's right - Oprah's cashmere throw, diamond watch and designer candle set were being auctioned off this week to help Haitian students go to school. Yates told the Daily Press, "I have everything I need — my health, my family, a place to live and I'm getting a good education, I don't really need anything else." Now that's true generosity.

Photo credit: nayrb7 via Flickr

Carol Scott is the Education Editor for Change.org.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Love Teachers? Love Students? How To Put Classrooms On Your Holiday List
NEXT STORY:
Student loans got you down? Start a petition.

COMMENTS (5)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.