Mula Lay – Staff Writer
Ducks Unlimited is a student-led extracurricular club that works with the non-profit organization at Gustavus that focuses on raising money for the conservation of wetlands for ducks and waterfowl. The club collects donations from local businesses in Saint Peter and surrounding areas to raise money. The club centralizes on one main event: the banquet.
The banquet is student-run and the meals offered at the banquet are catered by Gustavus. The banquet entails a silent auction and raffles. While the banquet is a major fundraiser, the club also focuses on “Discovering the Outdoors,” an initiative whose objective is to try and get the community more involved in the outdoors.
The banquet, which would normally be held in person, will now shift to an online auction due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Junior Sarah Pucel is the current president of Ducks Unlimited.
“We work with an area coordinator who works with Ducks Unlimited auctions in Southern Minnesota, and he’s basically been doing most of his auctions online because of COVID, so we pretty much decided with him and Gustavus and with the current situation that we’d have to do it [online],” Pucel said.
Anyone can participate in the online auction and some items that will be put up for auction will be a fishing getaway with a guide, a camping package, tents, outdoor gears, coolers and Yeti products. There are also products and gift cards from local businesses such as Diamond Dust Bakery & Coffee Shop, located just off-campus on North Sunrise Drive.
Pucel hopes the event will be a success and reach people outside of Gustavus due to its nature of being online.
“It’s pretty exciting because we can reach a lot more people by having it online because you don’t have to be in the state of Minnesota, you don’t have to be close to Gustavus to attend it… so although it’s not as exciting to do it online, we’re hoping to raise more money,” Pucel said.
The online auction will be held for five days beginning April 15 and ending April 19, and can be found on the website https://go.dufundraising.com/gacdu.
The club is also looking for new members to join as a majority of current club members will soon be graduating and Pucel hopes to increase the club so more events and activities will be possible.
You can find more information by contacting Pucel at spucel@gustavus.edu and on the club’s Facebook page.