Dance Connection makes use of the artwork type to present again to the group
Dance Connection members stand in entrance of Ohio Stadium in the course of the Homecoming Parade on Sept. 30. Credit score: Courtesy of the Dance Assortment
It feels good to placed on an amazing efficiency, however for the scholars of Dance Connection, what comes after has develop into an much more gratifying expertise.
Regardless of being united by means of the artwork of dance, the student-run Dance Connection has used its platform to have interaction with a number of charities round Columbus, together with elevating $895 for the Huckleberry Home Disaster Shelter — a brief residence for homeless teenagers in Columbus to entry a secure setting and obtain steering — to help homeless teenagers and donating provides to the Nationwide Kids’s Hospital sufferers final 12 months.
“I’ve been dancing since I used to be two years previous, however I’ve additionally tried to seek out volunteer alternatives all through that,” Jessica Manning, a fourth-year in civil engineering and the treasurer of Dance Connection, stated. “I really feel like this can be a good continuation of that in school, having danced and volunteer alternatives being mixed into one group.”
Dance Connection helps elevate cash at its end-of-semester present to help the Huckleberry Home, and Samantha Marszalek, a fourth-year in communication and dance and outreach chair of Dance Connection, stated the present is the membership’s largest occasion.
Final semester, Dance Connection raised $895, which went in direction of serving to one teen from Huckleberry Home get his or her personal house. Giving again not solely impacts the kids at Huckleberry Home, but additionally the members of Dance Connection, Marszalek stated.
Dance Connection members love dancing and giving again to the group, so the present allows them to showcase their abilities whereas elevating cash for teenagers, one thing Manning stated is particular to the dancers.
“Dance and volunteer alternatives being mixed into one group, that was one of many essential causes I joined Dance Connection, as a result of in addition to dance and efficiency alternatives they’ve these different pillars for his or her members,” Manning stated.
Marszalek stated fundraising for the Huckleberry Home has been deeply impactful for her and different members of Dance Connection.
“Studying a bit bit extra about Huckleberry Home in Dance Connection and realizing that there’s different youngsters that don’t have a house, don’t have the help that all of us had — aren’t having that help to come back to school and get an training — was actually a mindset change,” Marszalek stated.
Dance Connection’s charity doesn’t cease on the Huckleberry Home, as Marszalek stated they started fundraising efforts for different charities.
“This previous semester we labored with Nationwide Kids’s Hospital, and we collected totally different faculty provides and hygiene provides,” Marszalek stated. “We went and took it to Nationwide Kids’s Hospital and helped six kids and households.”
Dance Connection has additionally made handwritten playing cards for most cancers sufferers on the hospital, Marszalek stated.
“We obtained a listing of issues that every baby likes, and we obtained to form of personalize our personal card to ship to them,” Marszalek stated. “I can take 5 minutes out of my day to make a card for somebody, and I understand how particular it’s going to make them really feel, simply actually warmed my coronary heart.”
Dance Connection’s present to help the Huckleberry Home will probably be held April 15, and Ohio State college students can get in at no cost with their BuckID. Dance Connection will acquire donations.