KAY Club is hosting an event similar to a pizza dance on Dec. 3 to benefit Doctors Without Borders (DWB) and Harvesters. The event will be called Dance for a Cause and will be in the Commons after the first home basketball game of the season, in which the Timberwolves will take on the Topeka-Seaman Vikings.
Senior Mackenzie Nelson, KAY Club Director of Service, describes the dance as a low-maintenance way to raise money for a great cause.
“This dance is an opportunity to raise money for Doctors Without Borders and food donations for Harvesters,” KAY Club president senior Geoffrey Wright said. “We also wanted to throw a party. The service committee combined the two and so we have this.”
KAY Club also benefits from helping this international organization.
“It fulfills our world service requirement,” KAY Club sponsor Carolyn Zeligman said.
Entrance to the dance will be $5 but can be discounted to $3 with the donation of canned foods to Harvesters. The theme of the dance will be white-out.
Harvesters is a local organization and food bank which works to provide solutions to hunger within the Kansas City area.
“Both organizations are great because we know that our money and food donations will actually be put to work to better both our local community and the international community,” Nelson said. “Doctors Without Borders is not one of those organizations that uses donations to make fliers or pay people to sit at desks all day. Both DWB and Harvesters spend very little on administrative costs.”
Doctors Without Borders is an international organization that hires doctors from all over the world to assist those who suffer from violence, neglect or disaster.
“Basically, whenever there is a humanitarian crisis or natural disaster, DWB is there helping out,” Nelson said. “They are working in more than 60 countries, including Haiti and Indonesia.”
Zeligman said that KAY Club wants to support DWB because of their humanitarian service and efforts for those in need.
“We decided that this organization is amazing and deserves to be recognized and supported throughout our school,” she said.
Wright thinks that with the word ‘service’ attached, the dance’s attendance will be impacted.
“I think that people associate boredom with service,” he said. “But I know that service can be fun, and I want other people to realize that too. Doing something nice for others while having fun — it can’t get better than that.”
Nelson says that the dance will not be formal.
“It’s just going to be a chance for kids to let off some steam, get their groove on and help two great causes,” she said.
Wright is optimistic about the dance.
“I think it’s going to be as fun as the pizza dance, which was a blast,” he said. “I just want to encourage people to come out.”
Nelson hopes the dance will allow everyone to have a good time while helping out others.
“I think kids who live in suburbia have a hard time relating to issues outside of their bubble,” she said. “But dancing is something everyone can relate to.”
Editor’s note: It is the policy of the Southwest Frontier to not use members of our staff as sources in stories. An exception to this rule was made because Nelson was the best expert source available for comment on the event.
