By Colter Hettich, Student Reporter

Students in Abilene danced to discotheque music from Europe to benefit children in Africa.

Last Saturday, Maple Street Production (MSP) held an alcohol and drug-free dance party at Monks Coffee Shop. Three hundred and fifty students attended the event throughout the night, donating a total of $150 to benefit Invisible Children and TOMS shoes.

Both non-profit organizations, Invisible Children seeks to help children in Uganda that have been made refugees by a raging civil war, while the goal of TOMS shoes is to put a pair of shoes on the feet of every child in Argentina and eventually South America.

Tripp Page, fifth year English major from Whitney and member of MSP, said the dance party idea just came to them at a birthday party.

“Someone put on some music, everyone just started dancing and we thought, ‘We should do this once a month,'” Page said. What started out as an occasional house party has now turned into a semi-public event with a cause.

“It started off kind of small with a group of our friends,” said Lance Ferguson, fifth year marketing major from Ontario, Calif. “We started inviting more and more people. Now, we are actually using the dance parties to raise money for Invisible Children and stuff like that.”

Overall participation in Saturday’s event erased worries the MSP men had about a more public venue.

“It’s been really good having it at a place such as Monks. It helps them out, and it helps us out too,” Ferguson said. “I think it was very successful, and we learned a lot.”

Ferguson, Page and company were not only pleased with the outcome of the event but were extremely grateful to everyone who participated. Ferguson encourages everyone to “keep coming out, having fun and supporting it. And keep your ear open for social causes.”

With MSP’s success last weekend, students can be expecting another event like Saturday’s dance party to take place before the semester’s end.