Submitted by Dr. Diana Yu (Twitter: Yu4Health)
On the bone chilling evening of December 7, about a hundred generous Olympians braved the weather to attend the Olympia Gives- Philippine Disaster Relief Benefit Dance at the Eagle’s Ballroom. And what a treat they had in store for them!
Local groups including Samba OlyWa, Filipino American Society of South Puget Sound dancers, and hula dancer, Reiko Callner, performed special numbers. They beat their drums, did their samba, stepped between bamboo poles and did the hula and then invited the audience to participate.. This was a great crowd, willing to put their toes between clacking bamboo poles!! No one was hurt, of course.
The rest of the evening was a gigantic Zumba party with ladies and gents in traditional Filipino garb, Samba attire and street clothes swinging and moving to the beat of Zumba music. The dancer of the night was a little boy, barely two, who loved the beat of the music and joyfully roamed around on his happy feet.
This event would not have been successful without the generosity of our local businesses and individuals who donated raffle items, including Traditions Café, Cebu’s Restaurant, El Pulgarcito # 2, Allenaid Salon, Soul Journey Connection, Middle Fork Roasters, South Sound YMCA, Yelm Boot Camp, Zonta Club, Daphne Niemann and George Alvarado. A special thank you to Eagle’s FOE #21 for the venue, Stormans, Inc. and Olympia Food Co-op for evening snacks.
Olympia is such an awesome community. Olympia gives. Olympia cares and it shows. With the donations, over $3,000 will be sent to assist in the recovery efforts from Typhoon Haiyan devastation. Thank you Olympia and Thurston County residents. You Rock!!
Maraming salamat.
Photo credits: Wren Barstow and Laura Killian
