April 28, 2002
Byline: SUSAN SHERRING -- Ottawa Sun

Bidding on Jozef Straus

How much would you pay to spend some time with Jozef Straus, the president and CEO of JDS Uniphase?

At $3,000, the hi-tech heavy hitter emerged as the top money-maker for Executives on Auction. The innovative fundraiser puts individual executives (and a handful of media personalities thrown in for good measure) on the on-line block, raising money for a charity of their choice.

The $3,000 winning bid for spending time with Straus will go to his chosen charity, the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

In all, 18 charities received $10,187 in bids, with CJOH news anchor Max Keeping going for the bargain basement price of $275, which will go to Child and Youth Friendly Ottawa.

The bidding wrapped up last week.

Each of the winning bidders will meet with their exec or media personality at one of the donated venues, including the Canadian Golf and Country Club, the National Arts Centre, Ottawa Senators games and kayaking. Some of the other winning bids include $1,002 for Michael Gerrior with Perley Robertson, who chose the Food Bank as his charity; $620 for Antoine Paquin, who was raising money for the Youville Centre; $545 for Shirley Westeinde of the Westeinde Group, who was raising money for Compassion in Action; $200 for Chez's Doc & Woody, raising money for the Doc and Woody Fund for Operating Rooms at CHEO; $250 for Carleton University's John Apsimon, raising money for Compassion in Action; $200 for CFRA's John Brenner, raising money for CHEO's Medical Day Unit in the Oncology/Hematology department; and $200 for Mark Papousek, going to the Y105 Make a Wish Foundation.