The heck with ties and cologne. If you want Dad to remember this year's Father's Day gift, go to Idea Wild's annual benefit auction Saturday, May 9, and bid on a penis gourd.

Wally Van Sickle III, founder and director of the nonprofit conservation organization, picked up a nice selection of the gourds during a trip to New Guinea last fall. Men there still wear them, he said, and there are even different versions for everyday wear and ceremonial occasions.

But don't worry. If Dad already has a gourd wardrobe, there will be plenty of other stuff to bid on at Idea Wild's 16th annual auction, including Kenyan wood carvings and handicrafts, South American folk art, masks, bowls, hookahs and more.

All proceeds go to benefit Idea Wild. Since Van Sickle founded the organization in 1991, Idea Wild has provided basic field equipment such as binoculars, cameras, computers and camping gear to scientists doing conservation work in Mexico, Central America, South America, the Philippines, Madagascar, the Caribbean, West Africa and Southeast Asia.

Van Sickle, a Rapid City native who now lives in Fort Collins, Colo., was supposed to be spreading the word about Idea Wild in India and Sri Lanka this spring. But with tough economic times making it harder to raise money, that plan is on the back burner.

"We're working five times as hard to fund the same number of projects," he said. "We're getting so many requests (for help) that we definitely don't need to add to the pot. What we need to do is add to the number of donors."

On average, each project costs about $750 to fund. So far this year, Idea Wild has funded about 100 projects throughout the world, Van Sickle said.

Southwest Middle School students will add to that list. They're sponsoring a project of their own with money they raise selling auction tickets. Van Sickle said the school's sixth-graders are hoping to provide a $450 video projector for an education program in the buffer zone around Chitwan National Park in Nepal.

The park, a World Heritage Site, is home to Bengal tigers, rhinoceros and other animals, including 540 species of birds - several of which are endangered or threatened. The grant applicant, Paras Bikram Singh, needs a projector to help educate locals about threats to endangered bird species, such as hunting, trapping, overfishing and egg collecting.

Van Sickle said Singh wants to help local indigenous tribes - whose livelihoods depend on natural resources - begin cultivating vegetables and poultry and fish farming, thereby making them less dependent on animals in the park's buffer zone.

Tickets for the Saturday, May 9, auction at The Journey Museum are $10 each. The event starts at 6 p.m. Wine and hors d'oeuvres are served. For more information call 343-6060.

Van Sickle will also present a free slide show Friday night, May 8, at 7:30 p.m. at The Journey Museum. Wildlife Experiences will have wild animals on display, as well.

Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or heidi.bell@rapidcityjournal.com.