In the second annual Clothe-A-Child Date Auction, 15 RPI students were sold off as date fodder for the crowd in attendance Friday night. Offering an exciting diversity of guys and girls, participants strutted their stuff up and down the stage in the McNeil room led by pub staff member, crew team member, and self-proclaimed “seasoned auctioneer,” Chris Dyke ’07.
The $1,063 raised Friday night went to The Troy Record’s Clothe-A-Child campaign and the event was organized by the chair of the Rensselaer Union Clothe-A-Child committee, Martha McElligott. The date auction marked the beginning of their annual campaign to clothe local area children—a campaign which raised $6,500 last year.
Compared to the usual studious atmosphere of the McNeil room, Friday night was refreshingly silly, as inhibitions (and occasionally clothes) were shed to keep the audience bidding higher and higher. The night began with Dave Paquette performing original acoustic work, followed by the first date being auctioned off. The winners and participants in each auction were awarded with two tickets each to the Big Red Freakout!, so as to allow for both to bring a friend in case things got ... awkward ... during their purchased date. Bidding started at $5 but went higher and higher, even hitting $200 at one point.
Between auctions, musical performances kept the audience lively, including numbers sang by the Rusty Pipes and the Rensselyrics and an electrifying performance by the Step Team. The Rensselyrics sang “Collide” by Howie Day and “Sugar Sugar” by The Archies, and even surprised the audience by auctioning off their very own Al Gallucci ’09. The Rusty Pipes sang “Cool” by Gwen Stefani (with Kate Dannheim ’09 as soloist) and “Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys & Usher (with Johanna Carroll ’09 and Shawn Jiles ’09 soloing) and also auctioned two of their own singers.
Another highlight of the night involved a raffle in which all proceeds again went to Clothe-A-Child. Prizes were typical staples of college student apartments, including pint glasses, football posters, beer t-shirts, a poker set, hats, bar signs, and sweatshirts. Raffle prizes for the event were donated by DeCrescente Distributing, the RPI Bookstore, Father’s, Sodexho, and the Clothe-A-Child Committee.
Participant Betsy Kelly ’06 said, “The auction was very fun, I did it last year too, and it was a good time then. I helped put it together this year so I got a lot of people responding back that it was a good time.” The only disappointment of the night was that Dyke didn’t perform “Apache (Jump On It)” by The Sugarhill Gang, a song he had promised many in attendance that he would dance to. Participant Pete Hackett ’06 was outraged that Dyke didn’t do the dance. “It was the whole reason I signed up for it, because I wanted to see the backstage view, but it didn’t happen,” he said.
At the end of the night, the auction was a success. The money raised went toward clothing local area children, the participants and auction winners now have dates (and tickets to the Freakout!), raffle winners went home with plenty of goodies to adorn their dorm rooms, and the audience had a great time watching the comedic drama of the audience haggling over fellow students. I, for one, cannot wait for the next date auction, and I am definitely bringing more money next time around.
