Group event helps St. Jude

The Up Til Dawn Volunteer Program sponsored a Date Auction at the MLK Catholic Center Wednesday night.
The organization is dedicated to raising money for St. Jude’s Children Hospital and holds similar events periodically, of which all proceeds go towards the hospital.
The program already existed on college campuses across the nation before Miss Southern 2004 Enitra Jones, who was concerned with the operation and maintenance of St. Jude’s, brought the Up Til Dawn initiative to Southern. Since then, the program has been a constitutional project for all Miss Southerns.
The hospital specializes in treating children with leukemia and provides a multitude of services for patients and patients’ families regardless of their ability to pay for treatments.
Because of this, the hospital requires about $1.5 million a day to maintain operation. Various companies and organizations take part in providing funds for the hospital, and Up Til Dawn does its part to reach their annual goal of $10,000 in donations.
The students up for auction displayed their professional look, swimwear and casual outfits to entice potential buyers.
Before bidding began, a brief trivia session on facts about St. Jude’s was held to refresh the audience on the importance of the night’s cause.
Those for auction were then recalled onstage, one by one, and a brief description of the personality and interests were given.
Following tradition, bidding started off in small increments, while the auctioneers tried vigorously to motivate bidders to give all they could.
When D’Tara Frank, a junior engineering major from Lake Charles, graced the stage, males in the audience frantically tried to outbid one another with the final and highest bid of the evening peaking at $120.
Brandon Orr, the winning bidder, received a pair of tickets to the upcoming Hornets vs. Nuggets game for his contribution, along with a date with Frank.
The second highest bid and highest bid for a male was $70 for LSU student Phillip Singleton, another engineering major from Lake Charles.
By the end of the night, Up Til Dawn raised over $400, excluding the $3 entry fee.
All winning bids will receive a date Friday evening, provided by Up Til Dawn, and will include dinner.