Imagine bidding $202,100 on eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) for lunch with Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.a) (NYSE:BRK.b) Chairman Warren Buffett at New York's Smith & Wollensky's (NASDAQ:SWRG) steakhouse. Since the lunch is for up to eight, that works out to roughly $25,000 per person -- not including the tip and parking.
Speaking of $25,000, that's the low end of what the auctions brought in their offline days. In 2003, when the auction was switched to eBay, the winning bid soared to $250,100. Ah, the power of the Internet -- and cheers to eBay for making its site available for charity auctions.
Mr. Buffett has donated lunches since 2000 to support the nonprofit Glide Foundation. Glide provides 87 programs for the poor, hungry, and homeless in San Francisco. It serves more than 1 million meals a year -- three times a day, every day of the year. Hurray for Glide for its humanity.
With news of corporate fraud flooding the airwaves, it is refreshing to hear about a corporate leader being socially responsible -- and hats off to Smith & Wollensky for donating $10,000 to Glide as well.
Although $202,100 is dwarfed by the $7.2 billion given by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, for health and learning, or the surprise $1.5 billion left to the Salvation Army by the estate of the widow of McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) founder Ray Kroc, it is any kind of giving that allows mostly volunteer programs such as Glide to work for their community.
Is the market treating you well? Interested in giving your time -- the most valuable of all commodities -- to help others? Make a difference in your community today.
The Motley Fool has an annual year-end drive for charity called Foolanthropy. If you would like help selecting a charity with a broader reach, consider one of the five recommended by The Motley Fool.
For those wanting to save the copious amounts of money it takes to have lunch with Mr. Buffett yet still get proven market-beating advice, savor a free trial to one or all of the five Motley Fool newsletters. Let them spice up your luncheon and dinner conversation.
Fool contributor W.D. Crotty owns stock in Berkshire Hathaway and has fond (oh-so-fond) memories of Smith & Wollensky in New York. You can find W.D. at Checkers -- a stock in W.D.'s portfolio too -- enjoying a non-Atkins lunch.
