Can buy me love!
Single gals nabbed their guys the Leap Year way — by bidding for them on the auction block — during a cancer fundraiser at the Rex Manor.
Big-hearted ladies coughed up cash for the chance to date an eligible bachelor, plus raise bucks for the Francesco Loccisano Foundation for Children with Cancer. The non-profit was established in memory of popular Xaverian High School student Frankie Loccisano, who succumbed to the disease in 2007 at the age of 17.
Robert Pattinson, Adam Levine, and Chace Crawford couldn’t make it to the Feb. 29 event, but who missed them? There were plenty of other handsome hunks to get the ladies hootin’ and the gavel tootin’ to mark the Leap Year — traditionally a time for unattached ladies to propose to their honeys.
“We [had] engaging bachelors ranging from 22 to senior age, in every size, shape, and color — lawyers, teachers, firemen, retired cops, brokers, and more,” bragged Chairwoman Marianne Teta, who helped to organize the crowd-pleaser as part of the charity’s Sadie Hawkins Dance, named after the pants-chasing character in the iconic cartoon strip, “Lil’ Abner.”
The belles and beaux were sold on the deal.
Bay Ridge bachelor Mike Spence took his “date,” Belle Harbor lass Alex Bree, for a celebratory twirl on the dance floor, while Staten Islander bidder Denise Principe got a hug from smitten fellow boroughite Darren Fox. Baton Rouge babe Kristen Hayes discovered the Big Apple’s sweet side when she bought a date with New Yorker Brian McCartney, who greeted her with a kiss.
The benefit has helped more than 75 families coping with cancer since its inception four years ago, said foundation chair Kevin Breen. “This is a fun-filled event that benefits families undergoing extreme difficulties.”
After Loccisano’s passing, family and friends started a grassroots effort to commemorate the outgoing teen who aspired to study law at Princeton University, and entertained thoughts of one day becoming a politician. He endured invasive treatments, multiple surgeries, and constant procedures with a grace beyond his tender years, according to his mom, Camille Orrichio Loccisano.
“He greatly understood the enormity of what it meant to be so young and fighting for life instead of enjoying life,” she said. “So important was this mission to Frankie, that they were among the last words he communicated to his family and friends.”
For more on the foundation, visit www.frankiesmission.org
Reach reporter Shavana Abruzzo at sabruzzo@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2529.
