The Junior Class Council (JCC) will hold its inaugural Snow Ball Charity Dance this Saturday in the Dahnke Ballroom. The event will run from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. and is open to students of all grades.
The main focus of the dance is to raise money for three charities that support the South Bend community.
JCC vice president Margaret D’Auria said students will have the opportunity to choose to donate to Adopt-A-Family Christmas Initiative, College Mentors for Kids or Camp Sweeney.
“When you purchase a ticket, you get a choice between three charities,” JCC social committee member Liam Champion said. “The money gets split into four parts, and then each charity gets a quarter of the proceeds, and the last quarter of the proceeds is up for grabs and will be given to whichever club gets the most people to show up.”
Members of the JCC actively worked to find charities that are not as prominent on campus to support, Snow Ball co-chair Ryan Vazza explained.
“We looked at clubs on campus and how pronounced they were,” Vazza said. ”There was a couple of clubs that stood out that everyone hears about. We wanted to find that second tier of clubs that maybe weren’t the biggest, but could still do great things with the money.”
Health and wellness committee member Matthew Kirchmier served as the JCC contact for Camp Sweeney because of his personal experience with the organization.
“Camp Sweeney is the largest overnight residential camp for children with Type 1 Diabetes,” Kirchmier said. “It’s just a normal summer camp, except the counselors and the medical staff are trained to have on-the-clock management for their diabetes to make sure that they are well taken care of and that at camp, diabetes isn’t something they have to worry about.”
Champion said the impact College Mentors for Kids has on the local community is significant.
“College Mentors for Kids works with local schools in the area, grades first through sixth,” he said. ”We bring [students] to campus after their normal school day is done and we basically work with them and try to encourage them to seek out higher education.”
Event co-chair Hannah Ueland said she hopes students who attend the dance are able to comprehend their impact on the community while also enjoying themselves.
“They’re doing something that’s going to affect a family this Christmas on their Christmas morning,” she said.
In order to bring a large volume of attendees to the event, the JCC organized a number of enticing attractions, from special guests to giveaways.
“We’re gonna have a Snapchat filter, [the apparel committee]’s made t-shirts, mugs and ornaments, and a lot of other clubs are hosting events in the week leading up to culminate with the dance,” Vazza said. “There'll be a lot of giveaways when we're selling tickets. We’ll have a ton of food: Chick-Fil-A, mozzarella sticks, desserts and some other things.”
D’Auria said they also hope to draw in students with a handful of additional attractions.
“We’re doing the mocktail bar, we’re doing DJ DuLac—a lot of big things that kids will want to go to,” D’Auria said. ”The mocktail bar will be hosted by a campus celebrity.”
However, the JCC hopes this is not all that the Snow Ball is remembered for.
“I hope [students] remember that while they are there to have fun, the greater purpose of the dance is to give back and the money that they are spending isn’t just going to the class and funneling back into later events, it’s going directly to charity to help kids who need it more,” D’Auria said.
Vazza said he hopes attendees will have a better appreciation for how Notre Dame students can come together to support charities and groups on campus.
Champion said students could benefit emotionally and spiritually from the event.
“It feels good to give back to the community,” he said.
All involved in the planning of this unique event had the unanimous goal of giving back to the community in true Notre Dame spirit.
“That’s what Notre Dame’s all about—building community and supporting each other,” JCC president Sam Cannova said.
Tickets for the Snow Ball are being sold in the LaFortune box office and by JCC members for $5. Tickets will be $7 at the door. More information leading up to the event can be found on JCC's Instagram page.
Junior Class Council gears up for first-ever Snow Ball Charity Dance
Junior Class Council members held a pop-up sale in South Dining Hall for tickets to the Snow Ball Charity Dance.
