Night of dancing to benefit food bank

PORTALES — A night of western swing dancing complete with a full meal has been planned after a group of Eastern New Mexico University students saw a local non-profit organization struggling.

The Black Hats and Pearls Dinner and Dance will take place at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 27 at the ENMU Campus Union Building Ballroom, with proceeds going to the Food Bank of Eastern New Mexico, according to ENMU Collegiate FFA Vice President Hailey Campbell.

“Coby Carter and the Five Miles West band will be playing the event. It’s gonna be a dinner with western swing dance. All the money that we make is gonna go to the food bank, because we figured it’s a good organization to sponsor,” she said. “FFA is an agricultural organization, so we focus a lot on agricultural production, which relates to food. The food bank is such an awesome organization, we figured it was good to help out, and we could also relate it back to agriculture.”

Campbell said the FFA chapter was looking for a local organization that needed the most assistance, and decided that the food bank wasn’t as widely recognized as other non-profits.

“The food bank helps so many people in this area. They really just do such a great job with helping people, and they do more than just food. They do so much for our community, and I never hear of them getting much help,” she said. “There are multiple organizations, like the Salvation Army or the Lighthouse Mission in Clovis, that people widely donate to, and we figured the food bank really didn’t get that much.”

Coby Carter, who will be performing at the event, said he is hoping to see the community attend in force to help the food bank.

“I hope we can achieve a good turn-out, and hopefully we can have a big success for the food bank. Hopefully we’ll be able to give them a good amount of money that they can kick off their new year with,” he said.

FBENM Executive Director Dianna Hernandez praised the organizers’ willingness to help when the food bank was receiving less donations.

“We’re so pleased to have their support, especially because they specifically wanted to step in at a time they realized donations might be down,” she said. “I think it will be just a great opportunity to get dressed up, go dancing, have a nice meal, all while doing something charitable at the same time.”

Admission for the event is $40 per person and $275 per 8-person table. Tickets can be purchased by calling 575-309-8992 or 575-309-6540.