Derby Days auction raises $7,100 for cancer research
After watching his aunt suffer from cancer, Sam Woods wanted to do what he could to help the cause. The Canton sophomore got his chance to give back by dancing in a cage Thursday night.
More than 75 Sigma Chi Fraternity volunteers were auctioned off to the highest bidding sorority women Thursday night at Wayside Central. The auction was estimated to raise $3,000, but after totaling money earned, the fraternity raised $7,100 for the Huntsman Cancer Institute, Sigma Chi's philanthropy. The event was part of the fraternity's Derby Days, which is a weeklong series of events to fundraise for cancer research.
Once bought, the brother was owned by the sorority until 2 a.m. Each Sigma Chi auction performance was about 30 seconds long, allowing the sorority women time to raise their hands to place bids.
“My aunt made it through and she probably had a lot of help from philanthropy events like this. I don’t know how to dance, but I tried my hardest,” Woods said. “I feel like Derby Days just not only teaches us to give back to the community, but business skills too. We had to set up meetings for this and worked really hard.”
More than 250 people attended the event. Sorority women crowded the edges surrounding the small Wayside stage located on the dance floor, some kneeling on chairs to be able to see the auctioning Sigma Chi’s dancing to the music provided by a live DJ.
“The camaraderie is amazing here and it’s all for a good cause,” said Sigma Chi president and Livonia senior Zach Stout. “Derby Days in general brings all the sororities together and I hope that they realize that it’s not about the competition, but to generate money for the Huntsman Institute.”
Sororities were awarded points based on what brother was bought. General pledges were worth 50 points while active brothers were worth 100 points.
Higher-ranked Sigma Chi brothers were individually worth the most points: Matt Kenrick, auctioned off to Alpha Gamma Delta, was worth 150 points; Rick Adams, auctioned off to Delta Zeta, was worth 175 points; Sigma Chi president Zach Stout, auctioned off to Phi Sigma Sigma, was worth 200 points; and philanthropy chairman Mark Guidobono, auctioned off to Delta Zeta, was worth 275 points.
“It’s for a really good cause and I wanted to help raise money for cancer,” said Macomb senior and Zeta Tau Alpha member Codi Livingston. “Everyone gets really into it and the outcome to see how much money was raised doing something is fun.”
