By By Mike Napolitano, News Staff
Students danced and donated to alleviate poverty Saturday in an effort that raised thousands of dollars for the Philippines’ poor.
The GK (Gawad Kalinga) Dance-a-thon, a charity dance marathon of hip hop and pop music, dance lessons and group performances was held Saturday afternoon and raised over $2,000 to fight poverty in the Philippines.
Sponsored by NU Barkada and Sigma Beta Rho, almost 100 students came to show off their moves and donate to a cause, co-president of NU Barkada Jaime Siochi said.
‘We would challenge everyone to stay up [and] keep dancing,’ he said.
The proceeds went to Gawad Kalinga and the 2nd Massachusetts Village in Laoag, in the Philippines. The group is a non-profit foundation that works to alleviate poverty by building houses and feeding the hungry. Siochi said they are close to reaching their goal of building 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in 7 years ‘- a project that was started in 2003.
During the five hours of the event, Siochi said there was also salsa and line dance lessons, as well as guest performances by Northeastern’s urban dance group Kinematix and the Latin group Kalienta and a Philippino food break. NU Barkada also raffled off gift cards to places like Wollaston’s, Boloco and the university bookstore.
Nikki Tablante, a member of NU Barkada who danced along with other students throughout the day, said she never got tired of dancing.
‘There were a lot of different things to do,’ she said. ‘[The dance-a-thon] didn’t really get boring or tiring.’
Students danced in the Curry Student Center ballroom as a timer, projected onto a wall, counted down the hours, and organizers counted the money donated. Siochi said the group raised exactly $2,016.81, which just missed their goal of $2,300. Students were required to donate a minimum $10 upon entrance.
Siochi said that while Barkada was ‘a little shy’ of its goal, he was still happy with the turnout.
‘It was Barkada’s first time doing that kind of event,’ he said. ‘Regardless, [there was] a good spirit in the ballroom.’
