Fundraiser to Provide Local Youth Dance Scholarships
The First Annual Carrie’s Dream Dance Scholarship Showcase and Auction will be held Sunday, February 8, 2015 at the Aptos High School Performing Arts Center; there will be two shows (1:00 pm & 5:00 pm) and a silent and live auction with products and services donated from our local community. It is sure to be an amazing show with very talented young dancers throughout the community performing. Tickets are $20 each, for tickets and more information visit: www.CarriesDream.org. The event organizers are hoping to raise up to $20,000 in dance scholarships from this first year of fundraising, sponsorships and ticket sales. The Carrie’s Dream Showcase will also be supporting the Aptos High School Dance Team by contributing ten percent of the showcase ticket sales to their program. There will also be a drawing at the event and one lucky participating dance studio will receive funds to go toward their scholarship program. As more funds are raised and available, Carrie’s Dream looks forward to further expanding programs, but they can’t do any of this without community support.
Carrie Dianda McCoid, the late owner of Steps Dance Studio in Watsonville, CA and a lifelong Santa Cruz local was determined to create a dance scholarship program so any student who wanted to dance would be able to do so, regardless of his or her financial circumstances.
Before McCoid’s sudden and tragic passing on October 3, 2012, she envisioned a collaborative annual dance showcase that would allow the community to come together to raise money for the benefit of aspiring dancers. It would also raise community awareness about the importance of dance.
Sandra Staka, friend and original owner of Steps Dance Studio said, “Carrie knew it would take some time to see her dream come to fruition, however Carrie was not given that time and we are so blessed and fortunate that we can do it for her.”
This fundraising project is a labor of love and has helped many friends and family of McCoid direct their grief into a positive direction that would make her very proud if she were here today. One saying that has come about since McCoid’s passing is “Carrie On” and that’s just what they are doing in her honor.
Carrie’s Dream Scholarship Fund Project was founded in 2014 as a tribute to Carrie Dianda McCoid. Carrie had a dream that all the students in our community who wanted to dance would be given that opportunity, regardless of their financial circumstances. For many dancers their dance studio is their home away from home; dance is the thing they are most proud of. Dancing requires teamwork, leadership, dedication, physical and mental training, as well as passion and perseverance- all immensely valuable skills that help keep our youth on the path to success in life. The value of these things cannot be measured in dollars and cents, but it takes just that to give these students those opportunities.
The Carrie’s Dream Scholarship Fund is a project of Pacific Arts Complex “PAC”. PAC has two studio locations, one in Santa Cruz and one in Watsonville that serve an incredibly diverse group of students in our community, classes taught include everything from ballet to hip hop, and even videography.
Although Carrie’s Dream is not currently a nonprofit entity, this project was created in order to expand and provide dance scholarships for students in the Santa Cruz County community who otherwise would not have the opportunity and resources to dance.