The Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS) raised over $3,200 last night for the Somerville Homeless Coalition (SHC) at its annual "Faculty Waits on You Dinner and Auction."
About 120 students were served dinner by various faculty members and took part in bidding on 21 different donated items.
The highest money earner for the night was "We Believe - Go Sox!" which included four tickets to Red Sox home games, donated by Stanley Jacobson, a professor of anatomy and cellular biology at the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences.
The winning bid was $265 from chemistry professor Jonathan Kenny, one of the evening's waiters.
Other highly sought after auction items included "Oooh Seven," which guaranteed four seniors the right to be the first to purchase their tickets for Senior Week. This privilege earned $260 for charity.
All of the funds raised in this event go to the Somerville Homeless Coalition because of the connection it has to the university. "[The SHC] was founded with support of Tufts students, stemming from LCS," senior Arielle Traub, a former LCS co-president, said.
Traub organized the event with senior Garen Nigon. They were the two co-presidents of LCS last semester.
Those who attended seemed to enjoy the event.
Kenny has participated for the past several years. "It's so much fun," he said. He brings his five sons to help out at the event and sell raffle tickets. "They love doing it," he said.
Sophomore Katie Muller also said that it was a good experience. "[I've] been before and really enjoyed it," she said.
Faculty members are responsible for serving the food and drinks to the students and ensuring that the students have an enjoyable experience. "We take the orders ... [and] try to keep the customers satisfied," Kenny said.
According to Emma Blake, an assistant professor in the classics department and a second year waitress at the event, part of what makes the event enjoyable is the interaction with students in a more laid back environment. "Its fun to see the students outside of class," she said.
At the event, fraternities and sororities where well represented. Emese Soos, a senior lecturer in the Romance languages department, said that she was impressed by their participation and "their generosity in bidding."
According to Traub, Greek organizations were encouraged to reserve tables ahead of time last year. "[We] continued that this year," she said. Sigma Epsilon, Theta Chi, Theta Delta Chi (123) and Alpha Omicron Pi all had tables reserved.
Several fraternities and sororities also donated items or services as auction items. For instance, the winners of the "Greek Special" will "let the sisters of Chi Omega cook [them] a romantic dinner for two while the brothers of Sigma Epsilon clean [their] house."
This year, Alpha Omicron Pi auctioned of "From One Sister to Another." Because they are selling Jasmine Sola shoes as part of a fundraiser for another organization, they let the highest bidder select three pairs out of 250 before they are sold to anyone else.
Other groups turned out as well, including the National Student Partnerships (NSP). Junior Pam Teixeira said that she volunteers for NSP and works right next to the SHC so she decided to come out and lend her support to the cause.
Traub and Nigon said that they were pleased with the number of people that attended and, more importantly, the amount of money raised. "It was definitely a huge success," Nigon said.
