By Myara Gomez
Staff Writer
On Oct. 29, the College’s Inter-Greek Council (IGC) hosted a fundraiser called “Dancing with the Greeks.” The event was an early fundraising event for Operation Holiday Child, which is a yearly effort by IGC around the holiday season to raise funds and collect toy donations for children in need in surrounding areas such as Ewing, Trenton, Hamilton and several other towns.
IGC president Brittney Ajaj, a senior double major in philosophy and English, planned the event, which turned out to be a great success with around 300 people in attendance.
“It was also a way to promote inclusivity and Greek unity among organizations. We also invited sports teams and other clubs to join in order to promote more diverse interactions,” Ajaj said.
The way this event worked is that Ajaj asked for volunteers and nominations from each organization and created teams of dancers, which consisted of two to six people from several Greek organizations. Ajaj then assigned them a genre so they could create a dance and perform it on stage.
“Basically this event was a mock Dancing with the Stars. We were all assigned a group and a category. My group’s theme was Tik Tok! Everyone who was there put on a great show and we raised a lot of money for Operation Holiday Child!” said junior early childhood education and psychology major Rachel McCambridge.
McCambridge and her team, consisting of Jared Green, Michael Dudak, Danielle Weiss and Lauryn Giordano, won first place at the event. Giordano, McCambridge and Weiss are all members of Sigma Sigma Sigma, while Dudak and Green are brothers of Phi Alpha Delta. McCambridge found it to be a very fun yet nerve-racking experience.
“When I first heard about Dancing with the Greeks, I thought it would be a really fun time, but I was too nervous! I took this as an opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zone, try something new and meet some new people!” McCambridge said.
According to Ajaj, Dancing with the Greeks raised about $2,000, proving to be a successful fundraiser. Last year due to Covid-19 restrictions, IGC had to raise money through Venmo boards to support their yearly cause for local children during the holiday season. Ajaj said they were able to raise $12,500 in total last year, so this event was a great start.
Ajaj said IGC plans to continue raising money in the upcoming weeks for Operation Holiday Child through Venmo boards and a toy drive. To stay updated, follow IGC on Instagram @tcnjgreeklife.
