Dance raises nearly $2K for Special Olympics
By Nicole LaPrade
The loud thumping of bass stereos could be heard in the normally silent Mission Gardens Saturday night, as students danced to raise money for Special Olympics at the Charity Ball held in the Adobe Lodge.
All the proceeds from this year's second-annual Charity Ball, combined with those raised at an auction this coming April, will help fund the fall soccer tournament and spring basketball tournament that the Santa Clara Community Action Program hosts for the mentally handicapped each year.
According to Ross Egge, the SCCAP program coordinator for Special Olympics, who also headed up the organization for this year's ball, approximately $1,900 was raised and 176 tickets were sold. Most of the tickets were sold at the door.
"We're not only asking people to give to a charity, but we want them to celebrate that charity," said Heidi Kallen, SCCAP's president. "The dance is a gift to say thank you."
According to Kallen, the collective costs of hosting their annual soccer and basketball tournaments nears $7,000 and fund raising in the past hasn't met this figure.
The first Charity Ball, spearheaded by then-Associated Students Vice President Nathan Iglesias, took place last March as a response to the desire for an event where all of the Chartered Student Organizations could work together to plan and benefit a good cause.
At last year's ball, $5,000 was raised for Buchser Middle School after a fire destroyed 10 classrooms Feb. 22, 2004.
Though raising funds for the Southeast Asian tsunami relief was an option for this year's ball, university administrators encouraged organizers to host an event for a specific charity so the school could build a relationship with the organization.
"No matter who the charity was, I felt that the charity should be flexible to change each year because my hope would be a different CSO should head up the charity each year," said Amy Chan, AS vice president.
CSOs that sponsored the event included AS, the Activities Programming Board and the Multicultural Center, among others.
Aside from donations, the groups helped with planning and also providing volunteers for the event. The cost of the event was close to $1,000.
APB promoted the ball by distributing fliers. KSCU provided the deejay and SCCAP coordinated the ticket sales.
To publicize the event, SCCAP members also dressed up in semi-formal wear to catch the attention of their peers and promote the event throughout the day.
Volunteers also stormed residence halls Swig and Dunne, informing students about the charity ball.
"I think it would be cool if it grew and became a tradition at Santa Clara that everyone would plan on going to," junior Kendyl Eriksen said.
She would also like to see the charity change each year so that different organizations are able to benefit from the event.
"What was most fun about it was that everyone worked together," Kallen said. "Usually the CSOs are competing when it comes to events, and this one they worked together instead of against each other."
* Contact Nicole LaPrade at (408) 554-4546 or at nlaprade@scu.edu.