Photo courtesy Oxnard Salsa Festival.
OXNARD — The Oxnard Salsa Festival is pleased to announce the winners and the total amount of money raised for the 2016 ‘Dancing with our Community Stars Dance Contest & Charity Fundraiser’. This year’s competition included an All-Star line-up in celebration of the 10 year anniversary.
The 2016 competition resulted in a grand total of $100,391 for local organizations. MaryJo Fuentes-Leste, (dancing with partner, Ottis Gillespie) who was awarded the People’s Choice winner dancing on behalf of the Access TLC Hospice Foundation raised $25,480. Bonnie Atmore, dancing on behalf of FoodShare raised $48,000, Seana Marie Sesma dancing for Santa Paula Art Museum ART Spark raised over $10,000 and Veronica Robles-Solis dancing for Oxnard Council of PTA raised $6,849. Tammie Helmuth dancing for Ventura County Animal Services raised $5,000 and Pedro Chavez, Big Brothers Big Sisters raised $5,062.
The winner of the technical portion of the dance contest was awarded during the Oxnard Salsa Festival on Sunday, July 31. The Judge’s Choice Award went to Seana Marie Sesma and her partner Lovie Hernandez. Bonnie Atmore of Foodshare received an Honorable Mention for her fundraising efforts.
“The overall goals of the dance competition is to provide a unique opportunity to increase visibility for all of the charities and to make a significant difference in their bottom line,” stated Patty Brown, Coordinator. “Some of the charities have a huge fundraising mechanism in place while others are a one-person operation or are 100% volunteer driven,” she continued. “No matter what the situation is, each of the participants receives a major benefit for their charity and we are so pleased that it works so well,” she added.
Since its inception seven years ago, the local nonprofits that have participated have raised approximately $745,000 through the Dancing with our Community Stars Dance Contest & Charity Fundraiser.
The 23rd Annual Oxnard Salsa Festival is presented by the Oxnard Downtowners, and was sponsored by Gold Coast Broadcasting, Bud Light, Mission Foods, Ford, Pepsi, Premier America Credit Union, Ventura County Star, and many other generous community partners.
For Festival information, call 805-535-4060, 800-2-Oxnard, or visit www.oxnardsalsafestival.com