Party Funds AIDS Research

With people crowded in a sparsely lit courtyard, and copious amounts of beer and punch flowing Friday seemed like a typical night at the Fox.

But Friday’s party was for a purpose: the entrance fee of five dollars will be funneled to raise money for Pediatric AIDS Research, members say.

By the end of the night, they raised nearly $1,400, members say.

“It’s great to see a final club mixing partying with a great social cause,” said William Prichard, the vice president of the Harvard AIDS Coalition, who was selling AIDS awareness T-shirts at the door.

David M. Darst ’04, a member of the Fox, initially proposed the idea for the benefit party, he said.

“I was very impressed by the success of the AIDS Coalition Dance Marathon,” he said. “So I approached members of the Fox with the idea.”

“The Fox was happy to provide the venue for the party,” Fox President Eliah Z. Seton ’03 said.

“Being an organization that has social space on campus is a unique opportunity,” he said. “This is something that I think clubs should do more often.”

While many of the revelers were unaware that they were partying for a good cause, the few in the know approved heartily of the party’s benefit.

“At least they’re being more charitable than the Spee,” said campus comedian B.J. Averell ’02-’03, upon learning the cause of the party. “Where’d all the money from the pajama party go? There’s no shortage of pajamas or world pajama crisis.”

Darst said that the party was put together in just a few weeks this year, but that he was looking forward to planning more charitable events next year.

“We have the potential to do something even better organized next year—maybe some sort of black-tie affair,” he said.

Members said they had hoped to raise at least $1,000 dollars for the cause.

According to Darst, every five dollars can buy one pill that prevents the passage of AIDS from a pregnant mother to her child.

—Staff writer Wendy D. Widman can be reached at widman@fas.harvard.edu.