Southeast Missouri State University student publication

Masquerade ball raises funds

Monday, April 14, 2014
Students preparing for the Masquerade Ball. Photo by Kenzie Huckabay

The Southeast Missouri State University Gay/Straight Alliance will host its annual Masquerade Ball, When You Myth Upon a Star, in the University Center ballroom and this year the purpose of the masquerade is to raise money for Promo.

"We do the masquerade for fundraising and awareness. This year we're doing it for Promo, which is a charity that works towards getting equal rights for the LGBTQ community in Missouri. Such as antidiscrimination laws being put into place and the recognition of same-sex marriage," Daniel Eckart, the GSA president, said.

GSA members have been collecting donations for gift baskets and different items from local businesses for a raffle.

"We're hoping to get a fair amount of local businesses to donate," Eckart said.

The masquerade's raffle will work like any other. Everyone gets one ticket when they enter the masquerade.

Joshua Nelson, GSA member and the head of the donations committee, is one of the students that has been asking businesses for donations.

"I have not gotten any donations yet, but I've been getting the word out about the masquerade to a lot of businesses," Nelson said.

Nelson has handed out letters explaining what the donations would be used for to different stores in the mall and has also given out letters to businesses in downtown Cape Girardeau.

"A lot of places seem like they really want to [donate]," Nelson said.

Last year GSA was able to create about 15 baskets to raffle off. Planning has been a group effort. There are four committees: food, entertainment/decoration, donation and advertising.

"We try and encourage all the GSA members to be a part of a committee," Eckart, who is head of the food committee, said.

This year the food committee has planned to have Subway party subs, chips, a cheese platter and refreshments.

The entertainment/decoration committee is in charge of budgets. They have hired a DJ from Diamond Sound System.

"He always plays really great music," Eckart said.

The donation committee are the students in charge of gathering donations for the raffle. This year the advertising committee has been trying out some new things to try and get more masquerade attendees.

"We were working with Riverfront because they designed our flyers this year," Katy Hooper, GSA vice president, said.

Riverfront PR is a student run public relations firm at Southeast Missouri State University.

GSA also has gotten a spot to advertise on the wall of the power plant.

"We just really hope for people to show up, mainly because a lot of the time we don't have that many show up, but this year we have a lot more advertising put up," Eckart said.

The Masquerade Ball is open to the public. This year's theme is When You Myth Upon a Star.

"It's kind of like a fantasy setting, so we encourage people who are going to make masks to kind of keep with that theme," Eckart said.

The dress code is casual formal to formal. People usually come in suits and dresses.

"We don't really encourage people to show up in a T-shirt and jeans if they can help it," Eckart said.

There is a mask contest as well. Anyone can enter as long as they have some sort of mask. Masks can be either made or bought. A couple of the GSA board members will be judging to see who has the best mask. The winner will receive a prize.

"We really like the idea of people getting creative and creating the masks themselves or buying them and making them their own and just seeing what people can come up with," Eckart said.

The Masquerade Ball will be from 7-10 p.m. Thursday April 24 in the U.C Ballroom.

"It's a nice way to relax when you've got all this work going on around you," Eckart said.

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