Apr. 19—Using a silent auction at a popular Moscow bar, a football signed by a University of Idaho legend and a dance-off between sororities, a UI fraternity raised $5,300 of money and food donations.
Fraternity member Dylan Solly said Lambda Chi Alpha began organizing the fundraiser in January. It culminated in last week’s silent auction from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m at the Corner Club in Moscow.
The auction featured a football signed by UI football legend Jerry Kramer, which sold for $1,100. Before that, the fraternity held a dance competition between sorority members to raise money, food and awareness for their cause.
“We have a very strong Greek community,” Solly said. “It would have been half as successful if it wasn’t for them.”
Solly said the national Lambda Chi Alpha organization is partnered with Feeding America, one of the largest charities supporting food programs in the country. Solly said that while the fraternity typically holds fundraisers for Feeding America, it felt it would be more beneficial for the local community to support the Moscow Food Bank.
Solly said food banks are “vital to people in this area to get nutritious food on the table.”
Linda Nickels, director of the Moscow Food Bank, said the nonprofit has benefited from big fundraisers before, but not usually in the early part of the year.
“This one was the biggest one we’ve seen this time of year for sure,” she said.
Typically, it receives most of its donations around holidays and has to live off that for the rest of the year, she said. That is why she is grateful Lambda Chi Alpha provided the food bank with a major boost in April. She appreciated the effort that Solly, in particular, put into the fundraiser.
“I’m just impressed at how he, being a student, has also got the time to do all of the work that he’s put into this,” she said. “He calls me every week and keeps me updated on what’s going on.”
On Tuesday, the food bank was crowded with people and Nickels said that has been a normal occurrence recently.
“We have been extremely busy for at least the last year and a half,” she said. “About double what we normally used to do.”
Nickels said the food bank sees as many as 30-50 groups of people every day.
“We go through food pretty darn fast,” she said.
