When a canned food drive is mentioned, people may think back to their grade school days of going into their parents’ cabinets, grabbing a can of green beans and throwing it into a cardboard box in their homeroom. Usually the prize for turning in the most canned food would be a class pizza party.
Tomorrow, Nov. 2, Having Ambition N’ Devotion for Service, with the help of Temple College Democrats, WHIP Radio, Temple Student Government and Temple’s Progressive NAACP, will be hosting a different kind of canned food drive.
Can-A-Date will be a canned food drive, date-auction hybrid where students will be allowed to bid for dates using canned goods.
“Each year we have a theme for the event, and this year we decided to have this interactive date auction relate to the most critical part of the year for the future of this country, including college students — the 2012 Presidential Election,” said H.A.N.D.S representative Anthony Copeman. “The auction will not only be a great way to help with a local charity but will also be a great way to get students excited for the nearing election.”
Can-A-Date organizers are bringing in six women and six men from different organizations to be auctioned off.
The purpose of the event is to accumulate canned goods to be donated for Philabundance Hunger Relief, along with an attempt to build hype about the upcoming election. H.A.N.D.S.’ main attempts are to serve the community while maintaining a fun and exciting environment at the event. Can-A-Date will be hosted in the Owl Cove located in Mitten Hall at 7 p.m.
Sonia Galiber, a political science major and TCD executive board member, is representing her organization, a co-sponsor of the event. She is also trying to bring awareness to the importance of voting in the election, she said.
“I am hoping to further spread the importance of students partaking in this upcoming election,” Galiber said. “It is crucial that we as young people have our voices heard.”
The senior management information systems major and recently-crowned homecoming queen Ariel Peredo, on the other hand, decided to join because of her strong association with different charities. Peredo is the Main Campus campaign coordinator for Teach for America and is involved with the off-campus organization Youth Action, which aims to promote education for minorities in Philadelphia.
“I decided to auction myself off because my values align with the mission of H.A.N.D.S. and program objectives of this event,” Peredo said.
Galiber said she hopes the excitement of this event will help raise money for the cause and help bring canned foods to families in time for the holidays.
“I am excited for the event to come, [it’s] going to be really fun. The program will be filled with music, performance and for some, the most important part, food,” Peredo said.
There will be performances by Temple Bhangra, Temple B-Boys and recording artist “The Fresh Princess BriaMarie.”
The bigger the size of the can and the more cans that a student brings, the more bidding dollars he or she will get in exchange to bid for a date. The dates will occur at the event after all bids have been made.
Chelsea Finn can be reached at chelsea.finn@temple.edu.
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