ACU’s Student Social Work Association and the ACU Swing Cats teamed up Friday for a night of dancing and fundraising.

Second Chance Dance, only the second ACU-affiliated dance, collected around 300 new toiletry items as the admission price to donate to victims of domestic violence.

Jennifer Carpenter, senior social work major from Fort Worth and vice president of SSWA, estimated that there were around 130 students who came dressed in thrift store outfits to dance the night away.

Forty employees from Hill Resources, an agency that serves the Intellectual Developmental Disability population in Abilene also attended, said Carpenter.

“It was wonderful that clients from Hill Resources were able to come,” said Carpenter. “They don’t get invited to these types of things often. A worker even said, ‘They’ll be talking about this for years.'”

Katelyn Werner, junior English major from New Braunfels, is a member of the dance group Swing Cats who helped co-sponsor the event.

Werner said SSWA was the brains of the operation beginning to end, but the Swing Cats provided manpower, a playlist and some logistical advice on hosting dances.

“We were truly blessed by our inclusion in this event, and it meant a great deal to us that the SSWA sought our partnership,” she said.

Carpenter said the Second Chance Dance will likely become an annual event sponsored by SSWA seeing as how the event was enjoyed by both students and clients alike.

There was not a dull moment of the night, said Werner.

“There was a moment near the end of the dance when everyone formed a tunnel for people to take turns dancing through,” she said. “It was so fun to see people mixed up together, jumping up and down and cheering people on whom they had only just met. Nearly everyone got up and joined in. It was a perfect picture of the heart of the event.”