Daddy-Daughter dance raises money for next Habitat house

The music was booming as dressed-up fathers and daughters raised money to help a local charity build its next house.

The annual Dublin-Laurens County Habitat for Humanity’s Daddy-Daughter Dance was held last Friday at the DuBose Porter Center on the campus of Oconee Fall Line Technical College. Habitat Executive Director Tracy Kinney believes they raised $42,000 during their 21st dance.

“We sold out of tickets in the early part of January,” Kinney said. “The reason tickets went so fast is that everybody has caught onto that pre-sale date in December. We sold a majority of them then, so there were very few left to put into the stores on Jan. 2. The pre-sale for tickets is always the first Saturday in December and the dance is always the Friday before Valentine’s Day. This is our biggest fundraiser.” 

The fathers and daughters had their pictures taken outside in the hallway before entering the big room set up with tables of food, raffle prizes, places to sit down and eat around the dance floor.

Kinney used to know a majority of the fathers and daughters returning to the event. Lately, more and more new faces have been coming to the event.

“About 10 years ago, I only knew about half of the participants,” she said. “Twenty years later, I don’t know if I know a third of them anymore. There were a lot of new faces out there. We started doing this when my child was 2 or 3, and he’s in graduate school now. Most of the kids (his age) are starting to have kids and they are bringing them to the dance. There were several of his friends that brought their little babies with them. I’m starting to see the second generation come through.” 

It was discovered that two fathers brought their nine-month-old daughters to their first dance.

“One was born right at the end of April and one was born in the first of May,” Kinney said. “Their birthdays were literally weeks apart. We had infants up to about 18 in high school. We have some that come to this up through their senior year.”

The dance brings in 800 participants and more than 50 volunteers. They have approximately 114 sponsors and more businesses who help with the $5 raffle.

“We have to thank the businesses and everyone for helping us with this event. Without them, we couldn’t do this,” said Kinney, who added that Habitat is almost done with House No. 43. 

“All of the money raised from this goes to the building of House No. 44 We are fixing to get it finished. We are ready to put her in.”