More than 500 people attended the annual Activities Programming Board’s Monster Ball during VCU’s Rams for Relief weekend that netted $1,482.
Jahnissi Tirado, the board’s director, said she expected only at least 300 people to attend.
“It’s the largest we’ve ever gotten,” Tirado said, adding that Rams for Relief weekend showed that the student body did come together for a good cause.
All the “ghouls and goblins” who attended the ball contributed to the Rams for Relief fund by donating a canned good or by purchasing a ticket.
Thus, the board, she said, also collected more than 200 canned goods at the door-all to be donated to the Central Virginia Food Bank.
Sierra Smith, the board’s entertainment chair, said the proceeds will be given to the Rams for Relief fund for the Gulf Coast hurricane victims.
“We wanted to help out worldwide,” Smith said. “APB is small and we do care about what is going on in the world, not just Virginia.”
Layna Glover, the board’s entertainment co-chair, called the ball a “complete success,” pointing out that every event that took place during Rams for Relief weekend contributed to the fund.
“Any event we’ve done, the profits are going somewhere, not just to us,” she said.
The Rams for Relief committee, she said, contacted Jennifer Cook, the board’s programs coordinator, and asked her if the board would collaborate with the committee.
“It makes us feel important that we have input, and that we’re doing something for a great cause,” Glover said.
For Tirado, contributing to others wasn’t even something she thought twice about during Rams for Relief weekend.
“It was an obligation,” she said. “It’s a duty and it’s what’s in our hearts to do.”
Furthermore, the ball represents one of the APB’s traditions where the student body can come out to support the school.