Afatasi Benefit Concert

"The local Afutasi family suffered a great loss over the weekend. Lua Afutasi suddenly and unexpectedly passed away Saturday morning from an unknown cause. Before his passing, Lua and his family were struggling with financial difficulties so they do not have the means to provide a proper funeral. His wife and three children are left behind and need our help. The St. George Community is banning together to help pay for the funeral costs this upcoming weekend. Kalamity, a local dance team devoted to dancing for a cause, is putting on a benefit concert Wednesday, February 23rd. Kalamity will be featuring guest performances by the Pine View Pantheras and the local TiaTia Polynesian show. The Benefit Concert starts at 7pm at Pine View High School in the Auditorium. Donations are welcomed and all proceeds will be going to the Afutasi family to help with the funeral costs. Please come out and show your love and support for the Afutasi family!" -Press Release for the Afatasi family.

Sunday night I got a text from the Kalamity Director, Tia. she told me what happend to the Afatasi family and she wanted to help. She said she would put on a benefit concert to help pay for funeral costs. I was in shock and thought that there is NO WAY we would be able to pull it off in a week! Next thing I know is that I get another text from her saying, "Concert is Wednesday night. Meet at the studio at 5am tomorrow so we can get ready" WHAT!?! I could not even believe that she was serious about this. I thought a week wasn't going to be enough, let alone 2 days!

Sure enough, we met Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 5am to get our dances ready for the big night. We used all 9 dances from our previous concert in December so we had a lot of work to do. Tuesday afternoon we finally secured a place to actually host the concert. As soon as we got word that it was a go ahead, we started our advertising.... the DAY before the event.

We were all stressed and we had no idea how all of this was going to work out. We posted on facebook like crazy, sent out mass texts and emails, and tried to spread the word that this family needs our help!

Wednesday morning, the day of the concert, we started our practice with a prayer. The spirit was so strong and it was confirmed to all of us that we were going to be able to help this family. That all the stress and worry about putting this on in such short notice would be all worth it because of the Afatasi's. Practice went great and we felt good about doing the concert that night.

As soon as I got off work I headed over to the high school to meet up with my team. I was greeted by the TiaTia Polynesian dancers and many others there to support the cause. We were all so worried that not a lot of people were going to come because of the short notice but we hoped for the best and planned on starting the show!

7 o'clock rolled around and Tia's sister came backstage to tell us that we can't start yet.... there are too many people waiting in line to get in :) Our prayers were answered! By 7:10 we were able to start the show with a FULL auditorium and many people standing up in the back. There was standing room only! We were blown away by how many people actually showed up to support the Afatasi family! It was simply amazing :)

The show was wonderful and everyone did an amazing job. I can't tell you enough how much I cherish dancing with my team on that stage. They all inspire me to always work my hardest and do my best. They're amazing!

During our finale we had the entire audience up out of their seats clapping along to the music. We took our finale bows and received a standing ovation. The house lights went up and we say the Afatasi family standing in the front row. I began to cry as I was able to look into their eyes and know that we did everything we could to help them out this night. They looked back at all of the crowd, they were in tears to see the support they had from their family and community.

In one night, we were able to raise 10,000 dollars for the Afatasi's. All of us were in shock! We couldn't believe how generous and giving the audience was. It was amazing to hear that much money had been raised in one night! All of that money was raised from hawaiian plate food and the concert! I'm still in disbelief. I am so grateful to be a part of something so much bigger than me. It was such a blessing to be involved in an event like that.

After the show and ran and gave Neal the BIGGEST hug and kiss. He deserved it. He was able to make it on such short notice and came all by himself to support me. I am so blessed to have that man as my husband. He was so sweet and kept giving compliments to the team and I. He even sent me a text midway through the show saying that we were all looking good :) It was the perfect boost for me to try even harder to do a great job. Neal always pushes me to do my best and supports me and the busy schedule I create. I am so lucky to have him by my side. He is such a strength to me :)