At Liberty Dance Center, we have a set of core values that we strive to uphold. In fact, you will see these core values on a large wall mural right when you walk into our lobby. In this series of blogs, we will elaborate on the importance of these core values and more specifically, our “WHY” behind them.
The first and most special one to us is Community Service. Our world is so connected digitally, but is more disconnected than ever. At Liberty Dance Center, we believe in connecting with our community whenever and however we can. We are a dance community inside our 4 walls, but we also aim to reach out to serve the great community as much as possible.
What exactly is community service?
- “Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation.”
A few weeks ago, Liberty Dance Center was awarded the Community Service award at the More Than Just Great Dancing™ Member Rally. We were chosen out of the 300 studios, because as the founder, Misty Lown said, “it’s in everything they do. It’s not an event, it’s a spirit of their heart.”
That got us thinking about what we all do… and the list kept going! There are big events like $3000 in donations each year for Christmas Clearing Council, our adult dancers hosting a ladies’ night to raise funds for a local women’s group, and our Father/Daughter donations to various charities (over $5000 so far).
To the smaller, but equally as important moments like sisters making bracelets to raise funds for Darby’s, birthday parties collecting for a charity instead of getting gifts, and our dancers bringing joy to a new dance friend in the spring via our pen pal program.
There are many unseen community service moments too! Parents buying logo wear for a child that can’t afford to, a mom using her competition refund to donate to Darbys and treat the LDC staff, endless carpools, parent volunteers at the recital, and cookie making for parties and senior center performances.
Community service is something that is “in our bones” at Liberty Dance Center. It is such a joy to see our core values so important to all of our dance families as well. That is how we will change our community for the better.
What is your dance studio or business doing to give back to the community? It’s the right thing to do.
