In Eliot House, Is True Love Just a Lucky Draw Away?

Charity-minded Eliot House residents are exposing themselves to public ridicule for a good cause, but unlike date auctions, Eliot’s annual date raffle entails no awkward stage time and no discernible dating. It does, however, entail some pretty sweet boxes.

Participants in the date raffle decorate boxes for themselves and harass their friends to fill them with tickets, all to raise money for a good cause. This year, proceeds will go to the Boston Shriners Hospital for Children, a facility that provides comprehensive care for young burn victims. HoCo social chairs solicit donations from local businesses as prizes for the contestants. The participant with the fullest box gets to pick first, then the other contestants draw for leftovers.

“Everyone gets a prize,” says Eliot House Social Co-Chair Ashley A. Zalta ’07.

“The whole process of holding the raffle at stein club is always a fun experience,” says Matthew P. Bosch ’07, who is participating this year for the first time. “It’s for a good cause; I thought it’d be fun.”

Much like people who try to be sold for un-embarrassing prices at date auctions, Bosch says he “will be begging all of my roommates to bid on me.”

In addition to rallying their friends, box-makers hope to entice cafeteria-goers with their creative, attractive boxes.

“We had one that was an almost life-size collage of themselves,” says Eliot HoCo co-chair Lauren E. Jones ’07. “I think that would probably be the wackiest we’ve had.”

Bosch’s decorations will be photographs, but not devoid of wackiness. “I went out, had way too much to drink, was a total wreck, [and] my roommate took pictures of me.”

With friends like these...