Dancers Over 40 Raises $4,500 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

John Sefakis

6 days ago

3 min read

Dancers Over 40 had another successful year at the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Flea Market, raising approximately $4,500 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

The Mid-Day "Shift" of DO40 volunteers: Front: Carol Banninger, Karin Baker-Kayne, Greg Kayne, Jean Preece; Back: Sharon Wendrow, Roger Preston Smith, Patti Mariano, JoAnn Mariano, Jon Spano and Bobby Hedglin-Taylor

Whatta Day!

WHATTA DAY! Lines around the block at the Hammerstein Ballroom on West 34th Street! Two hours to get in! Waiting in the rain! It was like NYC traffic, going 3 miles per hour in a 15 miles per hour lane inside the venue! No one could get through the crowd to even go to the bathroom for the first four hours!

The hard-core Broadway fans were out in droves, eager to buy more than just a tchotchke or two! Or three! But alas, we did miss the street and matinee crowds of 44th and 45th Street! But no room for them anyway!

Thanks to Our DO40 Volunteers!

Thanks to all our members who volunteered for the day (if I miss someone I’m sure I’ll hear about it!): Board members Ken Bloom, Patrick Thomas McCarthy, Sharon Wendrow, Eileen Casey, Carole Banninger and Lawrence Leritz, along with Roger Preston Smith, Scott Raneri, Jon Spano, Jean Preece, Karin Baker and Greg Kayne, Patti Mariano and JoAnn Mariano, Virginia Seidel, Diane Nicole, Bobby Hedglin-Taylor, Judi Mark, Mary McCatty and Sandy Nance, along with Bari Biern and David Schmittou.

Special thanks to Susan Sigrist, Lawrence Leritz, Roger Preston Smith and Felicia Velasco for many of the fantastic goods! And Bobby Hedglin-Taylor for sourcing out show jackets for us. Also a shout out to DO40 members Joe Ahumada and Brian Alpert for their financial support.

Five Tables, Two Clothes Racks and a LOT of Broadway Goodies!

Yep! Those are our tables and volunteers - that you can hardly see through the crowd!)

And the goods could not have been shipped back and forth to DO40 central without the help of Gotham Cheer, headed by Karmen Paley! Thanks to Flea Magnate Ken McGee for placing us right near the loading dock area with space around us to put our boxes and other items—and to enter from the rear of the theater/loading dock right to our tables—no waiting at all!

We ended up with five tables (instead of the two assigned) and two clothes racks, something we never could have had if we were situated in the middle of the venue! Funny that we were in the same room as Broadway Bares! But no thongs or pasties in sight this time!

$4,500 Raised for Broadway Cares!

We raised approximately $4,500, good considering the restrictions at the venue and the lack of street crowd.

Saw a lot of great people, over AND UNDER 40, including BC/EFA Executive Director Danny Whitman, BC/EFA Fire Island Dance Festival exec Denise Roberts Hurlin, Broadway Dance teacher extraordinaire IngaMarie Gersonand her son Zane and drag performers Nomi Sas and Alex the Meh! And our website-maker herself Megan VanWaus!

Hard to meet other people when we were forced to stay put for hours until the crowd thinned out.

Pictured above, clockwise from top left: DO40 board member Patrick McCarthy, Jon Spano, Scott Raneri, Roger Preston Smith, David Schmittou and DO40 President John Sefakis; DO40 volunteers working the Flea Market tables; DO40 member Virginia Seidel, holding down the fort as the tables came down and the boxes were packed; and DO40 President John Sefakis with BC/EFA Executive Director Danny Whitman.

Thanks Again!

A very exhausting day! Thanks again to all the volunteers and BC/EFA staff who helped us at our tables and kept the event on track, as it headed south from West 44th Street!

Tons more pics will be on our website soon!