At Phi Delta Theta’s 14th annual Buy-A-Phi Auction on Friday over 80 girls walked into Ballroom A of the Student Center with money in hand ready to buy their gentlemen of choice.
Portions of the proceeds were donated to the LifeStraw fund. This charity assists those living in impoverished areas without access to clean drinking water.
Money earned by fundraisers like Phi Delta Theta help to purchase LifeStraw community water purifiers, which produce clean drinking water and storage.
These purifiers can prevent waterborne diseases like worms, typhoid, diarrhea and other illnesses by removing the bacteria and viruses that are found in unsafe drinking water.
Ladies were bidding on men who would take them to their cocktail, which is held on this Friday at 8 p.m.
This cocktail will include a night of dinner and dancing. Not only were ladies contributing to a cause by bidding, but they also were getting rewarded for their contributions.
The bidding process started when each man walked on stage to a song of his choice, while a projector screen listed funny facts about him. One even took off his shirt and started dancing, in hopes of making the women want to bid higher.
An alumni of Phi Delta Theta called for a bid which started at $20 and go up from there, depending how much the ladies were willing to spend on the man of their choice.
Most men would go for somewhere between $20 to $40, but some went as high as $115.
Girls had the option of bidding on a man together. Two girls could go with one guy to their cocktail. However, the ‘two girls for one guy’ offer could only happen six times.
Sarah Peterson and Katie Beerman did this with one of the men, Brendan Boyle.
Peterson told the STAR, “ I was going into it knowing guys were going in the $100 range last year, so I was expecting to spend between 80 and 100 dollars.”
She ended up spending $40 since she split an $80 bid with Beerman.
“I loved supporting my friends organization and that my money went to a good cause,” said Peterson.
Girls who attended the event did not necessarily have to buy-a–phi.
Junior, Isabella Banderia de Mello said, “I went in not planning on buying a guy, I heard it was a fun show just to watch, and it definitely was.”
Katherine Ratto, a member of Alpha Xi Delta agreed with Banderia and said, “It was a really fun event, super entertaining and I’m glad I got to experience it with some of my sisters.”
The overall reaction from girls in the audience was high energy and many seemed to have fun with the event.
“My favorite part about this philanthropy event is definitely raising the money and being able to do it in a fun, creative way is a big plus,” said Jovani Silva, Phi Delta Theta member. “Consistently having all the support of the people that come out is great, knowing that we are all working for the same great cause.”
Buy-A-Phi will be back again next year, raising money for a good cause while putting on an entertaining event at the same time.
Until then, watch out for their many other philanthropy events to donate to this cause.
