Every year in May, my club and the Jaguar club organize a
car show to raise money for a local charity. This year we had a very unique organization
selected as beneficiary, “ Life Change Ballroom”. Vision of a person who herself did not know
anything about dancing. Life Change is working in the inner city, mostly in low-income
areas to keep elementary to high school children out of trouble by offering
free classes in ballroom dancing. Some of these kids escaped gangs and turned
their lives around.
The mission statement of Life Change Ballroom is, “This
program teaches young children teamwork, sportsmanship, social awareness, confidence,
self-esteem, goal-setting, the value of hard work, manners, etiquette, trust
and mutual respect. We are raising our expectations of these children.
We believe when we expect more, they will produce more”.
A group of students from Life Change performed for one fifty
of our members and guests at the awards dinner after the car show and brought a
lot of joy. We raised $14,600 by the end of the evening. Though it is not a lot of money but for an organization
that is not recipient of big grants, it was a great deal.
