Dancing With the Stars

I was honored to be invited to Youth Emergency Services' fundraising event-- Dance for a Chance. This fundraiser was held at the DC Centre on August 27th at 7:30PM. All profits from the event went to support the efforts to serve homeless youth who live with hunger and abuse issues on a daily basis. Dance for a Chance is a dance event similar to the television show, Dancing with the Stars.

The Dancers!

Ten area stars who included: Kim Armstrong (Foundation Program Coordinator at Mutual of Omaha), Nick Bahe (former Creighton basketball star and host of 1620 the Zone's Schnick & Nick Show), Chad Carr (President of Ticket Express), Kristen Case-Penrod ( Chief Service Officer for the city of Omaha), Anne Hindery (CEO of Non-profit Association of the Midlands), Mary Nelson (KMTV's The Morning Blend), Bo Ruud (Former Husker football star), Adrian Whitsett (KETV news anchor), and me Belinda Wright (Miss Nebraska USA). We all had dance lessons from a professional dancer prior to performing for the fundraiser. After each star performs, judges will score the dancers and the audience has the opportunity to vote as well.

With Mary from the Morning Blend.

Amanda came to watch!

I had four practices prior to the competition and fell in love with Latin dancing. My partner and dance instructor, Zach, decided that the cha cha was the best suited dance to perform. It is one of the most challenging styles of Latin dance so I was instintly excited! We decided on a personal favotire song of mine: Black and White by Michael Jackson. If any of you know me, or watched my web interview from Miss USA you know that I am a MJ fanatic. This way, even if the dance went bad, the song would be awesome! Our dance featured 2 dips and dramatic lift for the ending. I was nervous I would have trouble remembering the complex routine, but come the night of the show I had it down!

I was happy with my scores receiving all 9s. Chad Carr ended up winning the even from online voting that knocked everyone else out of the water! But some of you may be wondering what is YES? YES stands for Youth Emergency Services. For over 35 year Youth Emergency Services has offered a safe place for young people in crisis. Last year along more than 160 homeless and at-risk teens spent at least one night in the Omaha shelter. The Youth Street Outreach Program helped 425 homeless and street dependent young people to find a safe place to stay, something to eat, and supplies to get though a time of crisis. YES workers also guided those who needed special help to the right places. YES also has a maternity group home and a transitional living program. Both programs assist homeless and at-risk youth as they transition to living independently in the community. Check out YES here.

Waiting for the results.

Guerin Austin, a former Miss Nebraska was there!

The evening was completely successful and I was so happy my grandma and mom made the trip to the event. But the night wouldn't have been so special if it wasn't for the volunteering we did with YES. That Wednesday we went in and met the youth who were utilizing YES. We served them food and got to talk one on one with many. They opened up and I left feeling extremely inspired and thankful. YES is an organization that is helping change lives. So dancing in the event to fun YES was simply amazing.

-Belinda Wright