Pitt students strut stuff for charities

Talent, good looks and the drive to raise money and awareness were the focal points at Delta… Talent, good looks and the drive to raise money and awareness were the focal points at Delta Phi Epsilon’s seventh annual Deepher Dude Thursday night.

Roughly 300 students from various fraternities, sororities and other student organizations gathered in David Lawrence Hall to cheer for their friends in the male beauty pageant hosted by Delta Phi Epsilon. Through ticket sales, the “Deephers” raised $1,433.85 for cystic fibrosis, the sorority’s national philanthropy. The money will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation which funds medical research for the disease.

Samantha Floyd, Delta Phi Epsilon’s vice president of programming, Laura Powers, philanthropy coordinator, and Meaghan Maher, a member of the programming team, spoke to the audience about CF and stressed the importance of national awareness.

Floyd, Powers and Maher defined CF as a disease that currently affects 30,000 children and adults in the United States. The disease causes the body to produce abnormally thick mucus which leads to life-threatening lung infections and obstruction of the pancreas. Because of successful research, the average age of survival has been extended into the early 30s.

When the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation was founded in 1955, few children lived through their elementary school years, according to a pamphlet handed out to students upon entrance into the event.

“Children who can’t pronounce ‘Cystic Fibrosis’ call it ‘Sixty Five Roses,'” Maher said. A bundle of flowers was placed on the stage because sixty five roses has become the symbol for CF.

The Deephers awarded Phi Kappa Theta $100 for bringing the highest number of members, 37, to the event. The award money will contribute to the fraternity’s philanthropy, the Children’s Miracle Network, a nonprofit organization which raises money for children’s hospitals and medical research.

Phi Delta Theta placed second with 23 members present, and Kappa Delta and Alpha Epsilon Phi tied for third place with 22 members each. The brothers of Kappa Sigma were unable to attend but donated $65 to the cause.

Chris Meaner, the greek advisor; Shady Henien, SGB President; Cheyenne Warriner, a representative from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation; and Jason Pippi, the winner of the 2006 Deepher Dude competition, judged the beauty pageant. The judges decided to pass the crown to Loran Sekely from Emerging Leaders for a unique and comedic performance of his very own rap song about refried beans.

“This was unexpected, because the other guys all had really good acts,” Sekely said.

“I was very happy to do this for a good cause,” he added.

Isaac Goldszer, from Zeta Beta Tau, placed second with a beat boxing act. Other contestants played musical instruments, sang, danced and juggled for the noisy and enthusiastic audience.

Floyd said the event was a huge success with more money collected and a higher attendance than last year.

“We’ve been working for the past month for 24 hours a day on this,” Floyd said.

The following sponsors donated tickets and gift certificates for raffle prizes to be handed out to audience members and contestants: Gateway Clippers Fleet, Pittsburgh Steelers, Campus Book Store, Pittsburgh Pirates, The Andy Warhol Museum and The Cheesecake Factory.