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Date: 3/20/2019
EAST LONGMEADOW – For the second year, “Dancing With Heart,” a collaboration between the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Luke in East Longmeadow and the Shriners Hospitals for Children–Springfield, is coming back to offer a night of entertainment, all to raise funds for the Springfield hospital.
Conjured up as a spin-off of the television show, “Dancing With the Stars,” “Dancing With Heart” pairs local community members with professional dancers from Ballroom Fever of Enfield, CT. Members of the audience are able to watch the show, enjoy hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, traditional Greek desserts, a 50/50 raffle, a cash bar and social dancing during intermission and following the show.
Member of St. Luke Greek Orthodox Church and Co-Chair of the event, Judy Lelas explained to Reminder Publishing that a few years ago she and a group of friends went to a similar event for a fun night out. The focus of the show that they had attended was to fundraise for scholarships.
“As we sat and watched the show, we all agreed that this would be a wonderful idea for our church to do as a philanthropic fundraiser as well as a means of helping our church,” Lelas said. “So our committee met and threw out ideas for organizations to partner with…Shriners was the top vote getter. The Shriners Hospitals for Children–Springfield was local, it helped children and it itself was a philanthropic facility.”
Lelas continued to note that each member of the committee had grew up in the area, all loved kids and had some sort of tie with Shriners Hospitals for Children through family, friends or co-workers.
“It was a unanimous decision. After presenting the idea to our church council and to Shriners Hospital, the partnership was formed,” she stated.
Last years “Dancing With Heart” event was attended by 560 people, and the successful performance raised $17,000 for the Springfield hospital. Lelas noted that the committee hopes they will surpass that amount at this year’s event.
“The most amazing part of this event to myself and our committee was seeing how East Longmeadow and the surrounding communities all came together, 560 guests, to support this cause. Also amazing was the fact that our non-professional dancers with no dance experience stepped out of their comfort zone, put on their “dancing shoes” and performed in front of a huge crowd of people, all for a good cause,” Lelas said.
This year’s “Dancing With Heart” event will take place on May 11 at 7 p.m. at the Cedars Banquet Hall on Island Pond Road in Springfield. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and tickets cost $45. Seats are still available for purchase, however last years event sold out two months in advance. For more information, go to St. Luke’s website at stlukego.org or call the church’s office at 525–4551.