This year’s San Benito High School Benefit Ball will aid the
families of Matthew Lopez and P.J. Galvan.
The two teenagers were killed in a automobile accident Dec. 6.
They had just graduated from SBHS and had links to many of SBHS’
current students.
This year’s San Benito High School Benefit Ball will aid the families of Matthew Lopez and P.J. Galvan.
The two teenagers were killed in a automobile accident Dec. 6. They had just graduated from SBHS and had links to many of SBHS’ current students.
“I think students feel good doing something for the families,” said Juan Robledo, student activities director at SBHS. “(The parents) realize how close P.J. and Matt were to the students.”
The Jan. 16 dance is put on by members of the Associated Student Body. Proceeds from the ball go to a different beneficiary every year. Last year, more than $4,500 was given to a local cancer patient so he could purchase a car to get to and from chemotherapy doses, Robledo said.
Junior Tara Wynn, one of three organizers of this year’s benefit ball, said the group decided on the Lopez and Galvan families last Wednesday.
“We felt they could use some help right now,” Wynn said. “We felt it was a good decision to make.”
Lopez’s family plans to use the money to help set up a scholarship fund in Matt’s name, Wynn and Robledo said.
The goal is to raise at least $1,000 for each family, but Wynn expects attendance to be high because it is benefiting Galvan and Lopez’s families.
Participating in the benefit ball allows students to feel good about themselves and do something for someone else, Robledo said.
“It feels good (to raise money for a good cause). People aren’t kidding when they say it is better to give than to receive,” he said.
A $10 pledge gets students in for free. Pledge sheets are available in Robledo’s office, room 352.
Another way students will raise money is by selling stars for $20 that people can put names on – similar to the luminaries at Hollister’s Relay for Life. Students can put their name, the name of a loved one or the name of someone who has passed away, Wynn said. There’s no doubt some of the stars will bear the name of Matt or P.J., she said.
Formerly called the cheap dance, the benefit ball started in 1994 as a dance students could get into for a discounted price. The next school year, students wanted to collect funds for distribution to a needy community member or family. This year, the name was changed to benefit ball, Robledo said.
The dance will be Friday, Jan. 16, from 8 p.m. to midnight at SBHS’ O’Donnell Gym. Cost is $2 for students with an Associated Student Body stamp, $3 without a stamp and $4 without a student ID. A $10 pledge gets students in for free. For more information or to pick up pledge sheets, call Robledo at 637-5831, ext. 352.
