‘Dancing with Colby’s Stars’ to aid ailing youngster
JEFFERSON — Three years ago, when Debbie and Rachel Haring of Jefferson heard that a family friend’s son, Colby Simkovic, was diagnosed with a brain tumor, they decided to do something to help out.
Along with Colby’s aunt, Tammy Koratich, they brainstormed for ideas and remembered an event that Rachel had participated in as a fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“Rachel had been a student at West Virginia University and a member of its dance company,” said Debbie. “Another girl in the company was also a participant in the Miss West Virginia Pageant, the organization that coordinated the Make a Wish fundraiser in which Rachel danced. We borrowed the idea from them because we thought it would be a fun way to raise money for Colby.”
Now in its third year, “Dancing with Colby’s Stars” is scheduled to take place at the Jefferson-Morgan High School Auditorium at 7 p.m. on April 25. This year’s recipient is Jordan Thistlethwaite of Rices Landing, son of Mike and Kathy Thistlethwaite. Before his third birthday last year, Jordan was diagnosed with leukemia. Currently, he still has a year-and-a-half of treatments to go at the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center at West Virginia University in Morgantown.
The dance competition, styled after the popular television show “Dancing with the Stars,” will feature local dancers who have raised a minimum of $200 in sponsorship. This year, five dancing couples will take to the floor of the auditorium and dance to a recording and choreography of their own choosing.
“Our only guideline is for the couples to keep the segment to under four minutes,” said Rachel, who will be one of the dancing duos along with her partner, Mark Shento. The other couples are Emily Cutwright and Carl Smith, Hannah McCardle and Christopher Drew, Christa Ziefel and Lanfer Simpson and Colby’s cousin, Preston Wood, who will dance with four little girls, Linley Kramer, Ashlyn Basinger, Catherine Diamond and Jillian Katruska.
Trophy awards will be given to winning couples in three categories. Colby’s Choice Award will be chosen by Colby Simkovic from the four adult couples, Another award will be determined by combining the scores of the three judges, and the third award will be determined by combining the judges’ scores, sponsorship money and audience votes, which will be represented by donations placed in each dancing couple’s container located in the lobby. Each dollar dropped in the container will equal one vote.
In between dancing sets, the audience will be treated to special entertainment that includes performances by different individual dancers.
“We’ll also have a Chinese auction that the audience will be able to bid on before the performance and during intermission,” said Rachel.
Some of the featured items are a purse and fashion accessories from Grandma’s Attic in Waynesburg, gift certificates from McMillan Photography and Thistlethwaite Winery, Pittsburgh Symphony tickets, a Pittsburgh Pirate tote bag with a T-shirt, poster, an autographed baseball and a certificate for two complimentary tickets to a regular season game as well as gift baskets and gift certificates from local businesses.
“We’ll also raffle off a hockey stick autographed by Mario Lemieux,” said Rachel.
All the money raised at the event will be donated to the Thistlethwaite family to offset some of their medical costs or to purchase needed items for Jordan.
Through the $10 admission to the event, dance sponsorships and Chinese auctions, over $12,000 has been raised in the last two years. Last year’s recipient was Daniel Bradmon of Rices Landing, who is still battling leukemia but is now said to be doing well.
“We’re really excited about organizing Dancing with Colby’s Stars again this year,” said Rachel. “The event is a lot of work, but definitely worth the effort. Recently, I saw Colby running around outside. He’s now doing fine and is cancer-free.”