Hungry competitors stuffed chicken wings and chocolate pies down their throats Friday afternoon in the basement of Tiger Inn, taking part in an eating competition to raise money for charity.
Joe Falit '07, Ashley Beyers '08 and Chris Merrick '08 organized the event to raise $1,450 for Patrick, an undocumented resident from Haiti. The money raised will cover the costs of Patrick's legal advice and Department of Homeland Security forms.
Falit, who spent two summers working at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic at Greater Boston Legal Services, was introduced to Patrick by his neighbor in Cheshire, Conn., who was Patrick's landlord and employer.
Several members of Patrick's family had been killed at the hands of corrupt Haitian police, Falit said. When Patrick came to the United States on a student visa, he had no intention of returning to Haiti. Since graduating from a Florida college with a degree in civil engineering more than two years ago, he has overstayed his educational visa and has worked without documentation.
As of Saturday, Falit and the other organizers had collected more than $1,800 in donations and expected at least another $500 to come in. Since the contest raised more than the $1,450 needed for Patrick, Falit said TI will donate the excess to another charity of the club members' choice.
Though Patrick missed the deadline to apply for asylum after his educational visa expired, he married an American citizen two years ago and can still apply for status as a permanent resident.
The competition
Competitors collected flat and per-item pledges for the contest. Organizers obtained pledges from outside sponsors as well.
During the chicken wing-eating competition, 14 contenders ate between 11 and 44 wings in the allotted 10 minutes.
"I would have been able to eat upwards of 100 if I had had ranch [dressing]," Scott Britton '10 said. Without ranch, Britton finished 44 wings and won the competition.
"I've competed in two previous competitions, but this is my best record so far," he said, adding that he had not yet lost a wing-eating competition.
"[Eating that many wings] was disgusting," contestant Jordan Bubin '09 said. He finished 34 wings during the contest and raised $468.50 from his pledges.
"I've eaten that many wings before," he said, "but never in 10 minutes."
Seven students competed in the pie-eating contest. Competitors were charged with eating as many quarter slices of chocolate pie as possible in 15 minutes.
Two competitors tied with one-and-one-quarter pies and advanced to a sudden-death round where they raced to finish one slice. Adam Harris '10 finished his slice of pie a few seconds before Jeff Kirchick '10.
"I felt sick. I never wanted to see pie again," Kirchick said after scarfing down one-and-a-half pies. He raised about $40.
"Eating competitions are awesome to see," Steve Savin '07, an observer, said. "Charity events are fun. It was a lot of fun and raised a lot of money for a good cause."
Falit said he was pleased with the outcome and noted that the event would not have been possible without the help and support of TI members. "This is the starting push for many more TI community service events to come," he said in an email after the event.
"It was good times," wing-eater Bubin said. "I'd definitely do it again, and now I'm going to get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich."
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