Date auction raises money for Red Cross
The Utah State University chapter of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity held a dating auction Thursday with proceeds benefitting the Red Cross.
The auction was sponsored by Chili’s, Sizzler, Anderson Lumber, Tanpopo and Gia’s and held in the Taggart Student Center Sunburst Lounge.
The dates sold to the highest bidder were members of fraternities and sororities as well other organizations on campus.
Benten Shober, a sophomore business information systems major and member of Pi Kappa Alpha, was auctioned off as a date and his company was purchased for $65, which was the highest bid of the night.
“I’m actually friends with a lot of the girls in the sororities, so I know the girl that bought me. She’s a great girl,” Shober said.
“The whole reason that we [Pi Kappa Alpha] did this dating auction is because every year fraternities and sororities do fundraisers and things for the organizations like Red Cross and organizations on campus and throughout Logan City, and we just thought it would be fun to do a date auction and get everybody to come out.
“We hope that it will help the reputation of fraternities and sororities in Logan because everybody kind of looks at us as the partying fools that cause trouble on campus, but we’re a lot more than that. We are about scholarship and we’re leaders. This was just a fun way to help out the Red Cross and have a good time,” Shober said.
The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity spent a month planning the fundraiser and hope to make the auction an annual event.
“We’re learning from this one how we are going to do the next one, and it’ll get better and better every year,” Shober said.
Byrin Miller, a sophomore social work major and a member of the Psi Sigma Phi multicultural fraternity, also participated in the dating auction and had his company purchased for $6.
“All of the other sororities and fraternities that participated just donated their time and came out to support the auction,” Miller said.
Justin Ego, an undeclared junior and a member of Pi Kappa Alpha, acted as one of the auctioneers and emceed the event.
“The hardest part was making up little bios for people that we really didn’t know. We sent a list to all of the fraternities and sororities and ASUSU and we had them send up their own people and then we created the bios for them. From our fraternity house, we just randomly chose six people. Next year we will advertise more and start planning earlier,” Ego said.
Nate Alldredge, a junior psychology major and a Pi Kappa Alpha member, purchased three dates at the auction.
“I bought three beautiful women, and hopefully we can all work something out and have a good time,” Alldredge said.
When asked how much money he spent, Alldredge said, ” Not enough. There were more beautiful women I could have bought, but they [other male bidders] tied my hands and covered my mouth so I couldn’t talk and some other guys could get some ladies,” Alldredge said.
Salthara Tieng, a junior sociology major and founder of Theta Nu Xi multicultural sorority, went for $31.50.
“I kind of wanted to do it and I did it for the cause. It was fun, I was just nervous,” Tieng said.
Joe Young, a sophomore sports medicine major who is a member of Pi Kappa Alpha, said, “Creating the bios were hard and just trying to get everyone to bet was hard, because everyone is a college student. For the short notice that we had it, it was great. It was kind of hard trying to get some of the fraternities and sororities to get people to do it, but it turned out good and all of the donations are going to the Red Cross so we feel pretty good about that.”
The Pi Kappa Alpha First Annual Dating auction raised almost $700 for the Red Cross.