Buffalo Rising Online

Dec 16th 2008, 12:00am By buffalorising

Last year over seven hundred people attended the Buffalo Ball and danced the night away while giving back to charity. It’s one of the few times throughout the year when you and everyone around you will be dressed to impress yet getting down and funky on the dance floor while sipping cocktails and munching hors d’oeuvres. Last year’s crowd set a record attendance and the Buffalo Charity Ball Committee hopes to top it this year. They’re keeping their online sales open until December 22nd, so get your tickets early while you can still get the discount.

The Buffalo Ball was established to help raise money for organizations that could use a helping hand. Last year, the event raised $13,000, which was then split between Hospice Buffalo and Re-Tree WNY. The two beneficiaries of this year’s third annual Buffalo Charity Ball are Project FLIGHT and Angel Flight. One company is exactly what you think it is – airplanes. The other isn’t – books.

Angel Flight is an organization dedicated to helping the sick and needy get to the healthcare they desperately need. Often times when someone has a disease that requires specialized treatment, it may be far from his or her home. A group of volunteer pilots helps to ensure that those patients and their families get to the care they critically need. Joey DeMarco is a local pilot who partakes in the program and has taken many WNY families to various locations for treatment, free of charge. Angel Flight also helps transport organs for transplants as well as blood.

Project FLIGHT takes new books and through family and school literacy initiatives, gives children and their caregivers a chance to own something precious – a book. For many young children, owning a book can be an important part of their lives. Though libraries may give free access to books, having a book to call your own is an important step in learning to be a lover of literature. When you attend the ball, you can bring a new book for a child in support the program. You might want to try to make it a book you loved yourself when you were a kid.

Last year Buffalonians from nineteen different states were in attendance, truly fulfilling the Buffalo Ball’s mission to bring together the community spirit of those who still call Buffalo “home” in their hearts. The Buffalo Ball will once again take place on December 27th from 7 until 11 PM in the Statler Tower’s Golden Ballroom. Pre-sale tickets are $45 and available at the Buffalo Ball’s website. Tickets at the door are $50. With music, dancing, and the company of friends, nothing can make those complimentary cocktails taste any better.