Dance to benefit WTC victims’ families Father-daughter dance supports different nonprofit each year

Staff Writer

By dave goldberg

Dance to benefit WTC victims’ families
Father-daughter dance supports different
nonprofit each year

NORTH BRUNSWICK — Showstop-pers Entertainment will be honoring local families of Sept. 11 victims who lost loved ones in the attack during their father-daughter dance on Feb. 15.

"We just wanted to help the families," said DJ Laura Gibbons.

The entertainment company worked hard to organize this event in support of the families, according to Gibbons.

Showstoppers Entertainment and planning committee members Eva Aloia, Chris Ricardo, Lisa Curtin, Jeannie Communale, Rose McGuire, Diane Mulvey, and Friar John of Our Lady of Peace Parish are putting together the third annual father-daughter dance, to be held 7-9 p.m. at Our Lady of Peace Parish Center, Route 130 in North Brunswick, to benefit three North Brunswick families.

Gibbons said anyone can attend, and there will be fun and games for all.

"There will be pictures, dancing, snacks, refreshments, a 50/50 drawing, door prizes and Showstoppers DJs to provide a good time for all," Gibbons said. "The cost is $10 per dad/gentleman."

Gibbons said she hopes the event will generate the response that it did last year.

"We have no set goal," Gibbons said. "We had about 400 people last year. This has shown a strong community effort on the part of North Brunswick."

All of the proceeds this year will go to the victims’ families, according to Chris Ricardo of Showstoppers.

"Showstoppers donates services, time and money for many different things associated with North Brunswick," Ricardo said.

Ricardo said the father-daughter dance is usually the strongest event for the group.

"We usually get a lot more people for the father-daughter dance," Ricardo said. "Last year it was anywhere between 350 and 400 people. We ran out of chairs, but it didn’t bother anyone because they knew it was for a good cause."

Showstoppers Entertainment will also be holding its annual mother-son night at Our Lady of Peace Parish on March 1, according to Ricardo.

"This will be more of a sporting night," Ricardo said. "For the father-daughter dance, the girls usually come in dresses. For the mother-son night, the boys come dressed in their favorite jersey."