The Wildlife Protection Club (WPC) of UFV will be hosting an art show and auction on Friday, September 23 from 4PM-7PM at Building F of the UFV Abbotsford campus. The proceeds from the event will go toward the Fraser Valley Conservancy, a non-profit organization that focuses on protecting the wildlife and their habitats in the Fraser Valley area. Admission is free, though donations are welcome. The event will feature live music, special guest speakers, refreshments, and door prizes.
Originating in 2019, the WPC has become a staple club at UFV. Molly Tilden, president of the WPC, describes the core basis of the club as “a group of students that are passionate about wildlife in the Fraser Valley.” Tilden mentioned that there are three goals of the club, “The first goal is connecting students on campus that are passionate about wildlife, and creating a social atmosphere around that shared interest. Our second goal is to support [wildlife] organizations in the Fraser Valley. The third is just raising awareness and education on campus and also in the community about wildlife and why they are important, the challenges they face, and how you can help.”
The upcoming art show and auction event is to be one of the largest events ever hosted by the club and has been a long term project. Tilden mentioned that the fundraiser auction portion of the evening will be online and available ahead of the event as well as day of. The art can be found online and bid on for the week leading up to the showing. At the end of the gallery showing, those who won and are physically present may take their art piece home right away. If the winners are not present, the club will keep hold of the piece until the winner is ready to pick it up.
According to Tilden, the planning of the auction fundraiser began in January 2022. She mentioned, “we wanted to do it during the winter semester and then quickly realized that this was going to be a long [project] if we wanted to do it properly.” A great deal of planning went into preparing the website for the auction as well as obtaining the art donations for the fundraiser.
Tilden said, “All summer I have been approaching artists, going to art in the park, and farmers markets and asking people for donations.” She noted that it’s been exciting seeing such a large scale project come to fruition.
Though this is a very climatic event for the club, they have also been known to do plenty of smaller activities throughout the year. Some of the past events hosted by the WPC are litter pick-ups, raffle fundraisers, educational outreach events, and succulent sales. As the upcoming auction has been such a large scale event, the remaining events for this semester will be smaller and more social focused. Students can look forward to nature hikes, bird watching, and other more casual activities.
Tilden mentioned, “We’re currently a small group of people that are active, but we’re always looking for more people that want to join, want to get involved.” She welcomes students to come join the club and get involved with wildlife conservation.
Emmaline is working on her BA and ambitions to become an English teacher. They always say, those who cannot do, teach. She spends her free time buying, reading, and hoarding books with the hope that one day she will have no furniture and instead only have piles of books.
