Junior music majors Kirsten Trachte and Nick Meyer describe the time slot from noon to 1 p.m. in Egger’s Caf as the previous home to mostly music majors. ‘It’s close to our last class,’ Trachte said. ‘We don’t have time to go anywhere else.’

They’ve noticed a change in the past week. Since Nov. 30, professors donning pink tutus and shining silver shirts have slaved away behind the counter at Egger’s Caf, working to garner tips for charity. ‘I see a lot of people giving,’ Trachte said.

‘Most of the people working I don’t really know at all,’ Meyer said. ‘I think it’s really a Maxwell thing.’

That is where the two are wrong. What began as a simple charity raffle has grown into an extremely successful fund-raiser that shows no signs of slowing down. It’s called the Smeeding Challenge Cup and consists of five professors from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs competing against one another. Their goal was plain and simple: Win the most tips during an hour working in the Egger’s Caf starting last Wednesday and concluding yesterday.

According to Deanna Phillips, one of the heads of the committee running Maxwell’s Holiday Exchange, the challenge raised $3,342 from tips alone. Exactly $350 of that money will be donated to the American Red Cross, and the rest will go to the Central New York Food Bank.

‘We really wanted to keep this within the community because it’s going to be a hard season, especially with heating bills going sky high,’ Phillips said. ‘Central New York and especially the Syracuse area are going through problems economically.’

A raffle featuring baskets prepared by the faculty and staff also happened during the week of the Smeeding Challenge Cup.

It was during this same raffle last year that the seeds for the event were planted. Wishing to contribute his own donation, Tim Smeeding, professor and director of the Center for Policy Research, placed his own picture in a basket and raffled off one hour of his time.

The staff of Egger’s Caf was the lucky winner of Smeeding’s time, as it put him to work. During his hour of work, Smeeding placed a tip cup out for tsunami relief, promising to match whatever donations were made. At the end of the hour, Smeeding had earned $125 in tips.

This year, Smeeding offered his time to Egger’s Caf once again, but this time around, Phillips and the committee decided to make it a little more interesting. A flier was sent out to all the Maxwell staff encouraging them to try to beat Smeeding at his own game.

‘It was the staff that really turned it into a competition,’ Smeeding said. ‘They urged me to egg on my colleagues.’

The five professors who competed were Mary Lovely, John Western, Jerry Kelly, Bill Horrace and Jeffrey Stonecash, and, according to Phillips and Smeeding, they all had their own strategies to beat Smeeding. Kelly matched every $5 bill with his own, Horace wore a pink tutu, Lovely gave out chocolate and Western handed out candy kisses.

Phillips described the fund-raiser as incredibly successful.

‘Faculty, staff and students all came out to support, and tip,’ he said. ‘It turned out to be a really great way to make money for charity and have lots of fun.’

However, she also stresses that whatever monetary donations the professors earned was not as important as their enthusiasm and heart.

‘Just to give their time, to go in and work not even knowing what they’re doing,’ Phillips said. ‘It’s really mind-blowing.’

Smeeding displayed pride over what he had done to turn a successful fund-raiser into what may become a tradition at the Maxwell School.

‘I’d like it to carry on forever,’ he said. ‘After I started it, it got a life of its own. But I was just the guy who was willing to offer my time. It was (the staff) who turned it into something much bigger.’

Hallie Stiller, an undecided freshmen in The College of Arts and Sciences, was surprised the challenge turned out to be such a success. ‘I’d think if you’ve got a doctorate, you’d be kind of hesitant to go work in the caf,’ she said, ‘but if it’s for charity, that’s really great.’

Erica McCarthy, a first-year graduate student studying international relations and economics, believes she’s found the reason why the fund-raiser did so well. ‘Kids like to be waited on by their professors,’ she said with a laugh.

The challenge turned out to be so successful, Phillips is planning to expand it next year. She intends on challenging the rest of the faculty and staff of Syracuse University to compete to see who can garner the most tips next holiday season.

‘We’ll be challenging them next year,’ Phillips said.

Published on December 7, 2005 at 12:00 pm