Coogs yield to mob mentality for charity

As a local rapper spoke about overcoming hardship at a Houston Aeros game March 11, a group of Cougars led hockey fans in a choreographed dance to raise public awareness about a local organization that helps underprivileged children.

About 50 students from the C. T. Bauer College of Business gathered at the Toyota Center during the game in the green and purple colors of their charity to participate in a flash mob.

Most of these were friends of the organizers, but with help from local media outlets and the intense use of social networking sites, many others received word about the event in time to arrive.

The group decided to hold the flash mob at the Houston Aeros’ Breast Cancer Awareness Game.

“Our idea was to work with the Aeros as well as the Young Survival Coalition, another nonprofit organization in the fight against breast cancer,” said pre-business junior Matt Williams.

The high media coverage and visibility of the other organization’s involvement at the game would also cast the spotlight on Will’s Kids, a lesser-known organization.

The idea for the flash dance came from an assignment in a “Connecting Bauer to Business” class, geared toward preparing Bauer students for real-world situations.

Williams was one of eight students who chose the flash mob as their project.

With the help of a sponsor, group members had to communicate with Will’s Kids, and organize, market and perform the flash mob essentially on their own.

This project took a lot of preparation from the organizers. They arrived at the stadium hours early to lay a pair of pink latex gloves on each seat at the Toyota Center — 30,000 gloves in all.

“The hope was that fans would put on the gloves during the flash dance, which turned out to be a big success,” Williams said.

The gloves not only made the hand motions of the simple dance more apparent, but also served as a reminder of a higher cause that many members of the crowd took home with them.

According to its mission statement, “Will’s Kids exists to eliminate barriers and breathe life into the dreams and passions of children in need of support, because the best in any one single child enriches us all.”

The charity provides after school and mentorship programs for children and teens whose parents are unable to afford these services on their own. It also sponsors youth in extracurricular activities and hobbies, allowing donors to “sponsor” a child with a one-time donation for a specific cause.

For more information on or to support Will’s Kids, call (281) 594-0548 or visit www.willskids.org.

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