NEWS

Dance-a-Thon 2017

05.20.17

YDO MIDDLE SCHOOLERS BUY-IN

This spring, a group of YDO middle schoolers took a big step forward with their planning and organizational skills. 

The initiative was born out of a desire for YDO to get “better” lunches for the summer program. In true YDO fashion, rather than dismissing the concerns, executive director Mark  and summer co-director Josh asked the students what they considered better lunches. Once the students had described an ideal lunch, Josh prompted them to calculate how much it would cost for YDO to offer that lunch to 145 students, 5 days per week, for 5 weeks of the summer. The total, they realized, was in excess of $10,000, which they knew YDO did not have.

The group decided that they wanted to host a fundraiser, a Dance-a-Thon, to raise money for YDO Summer lunches. Over the course of two months, they planned a theme for the event (90’s vs 2000’s), managed a budget for food & decorations, secured battling DJs, and created sponsorship packets for their fellow YDO Kids to raise money among family, friends and teachers. 

Their efforts came together on May 19th, when the kids danced the night away from 7pm to 1am! The group, again 5th & 6th graders, raised a little more than $1000. In case anyone was unsure, the future of YDO is very, very bright!

Thank you!!

This event would not have been possible without the support of our event planning advisor, Elizabeth Delgado, and our talented maestri DeeJay PJ (YDO parent) and DJ Rodga (an older YDO Kid).

Special thanks to our event organizers: