Charity Ball supports HOC, Boys and Girls Club

A successful Charity Ball raised about $32,000 for two charities last Saturday and still plans to collect more before the year is up.

 Every winter, the Knights and the Setons — two of Gonzaga's many community service clubs — put on a formal dance, and donate all the proceeds to a charity of their choice. This year, the Knights and Setons decided to make a few small changes.

"We're focusing on two different charities this year, instead of one," the Knights' Vice President Alex Williams said. "So all the proceeds went to those two."

The charities being supported are the House of Charity, a homeless shelter, and the Boys and Girls Club, a mentoring program for at-risk children in Spokane. The numbers are not exact yet, but they expect to give each organization $16,000 from Charity Ball alone.

"Our focus is the amount of service done, not about raising the most money," the Setons' Vice President Shannon Henry said.

This year's ball also skipped over the presenting of the check to the charities' leaders.
"They aren't quite done collecting donations for the charities," Dave Rovick, the Coordinator of Student Activities, said.

The Knights and Setons invited the directors of the two charities to the dance, and announced the estimated donations that will be presented sometime in April.

"They plan to get about another $20,000 from letters," Rovick said, explaining that the letters are sent out to alumni and benefactors asking for donations.

The Knights and Setons already raised $22,000 from their auction earlier this year. This will be split evenly between the two charities.

The Knights also tried switching up the ratio of live music to DJ this time around.

"Usually the Jazz band ensemble plays three sets," director of Jazz studies David Fague said. "Some people were bummed when the jazz band started to pack up after only two sets."

Junior Nicole Bernabe enjoys the live band more than the recorded music. When the jazz band finished their set and rap began to play, "that's when we decided to call it a night. I like that music, but my boyfriend and I like to dance to the jazz band more."

The dance was also moved to spring because of scheduling conflicts according to Henry. The dance is typically held in December.

This year's Charity Ball had just as much success as previous years, according to the leaders of the Knights and Setons.

"It's my favorite part of the year!" Bernabe said.

The Charity Ball is the only formal dance held at Gonzaga that everyone is invited to.
"It's a bit more, I don't know, dignified than the other dances here. It brings you back to those high school days with the winter formals, dates, and fun dancing."