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Masquerage 2012

Volunteers for Dayton!: Opportunities Oct. 2-9

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Your weekly round-up of ways to get involved in Dayton’s urban neighborhoods.

Give Back in the Halloween Spirit!

Volunteering for Hauntfest helps raise funds for the Oregon District!

  • The Oregon District Business Association needs volunteers to sell tickets and serve beer at its annual Hauntfest on Fifth, October 27, 7pm-1am. It’s a great way to meet people and see all the crazy costumes! E-mail Mike Martin to volunteer and ‘like’ their page to stay in the loop. There will be a special beer booth to fundraise for Garden Station – e-mail Lisa Helm to help there. And if you can’t help out, be sure to attend – $5 tickets will be available this First Friday in front of the old Boulevard Haus.
  • Dayton’s costumed Party of Parties, Masquerage, will be held at the Fairgrounds again this year and needs volunteers for everything from selling drinks to taking pictures to simply showing off your “hot body.” Masks required! Sign up at their VolunteerSpot page for this Oct. 20th event. Since 2002, over 10,000 Masquerage volunteer hours have helped raise $1 Million for the Aids Resource Center.
  • I normally don’t feature for-profit organizations here, but I think it’s cool that we have a haunted house downtown. So if you’re favorite pastime is scaring people, sign up to volunteer at the Wayne Avenue Haunted Butcher House on the eastern edge of the Oregon District.

    Step up to help Dayton celebrate Dia de los Muertos. Photo: www.tomascastelazo.com

  • Historic Huffman neighborhood volunteers will be dressing up their beautiful Victorian residences for a Halloween-themed Spirit of Huffman home tour, Oct. 13-14. Your admission will fund neighborhood activities and improvements throughout the year!
  • Not exactly Halloween, but similar – Dayton’s Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) organizers need volunteers for their Community Offrenda, First Friday, Nov. 2, 6-10pm. The Offrenda is organized by Cityfolk’s Culture Builds Community program and Missing Peace Art Space in partnership with an array of Hispanic, school, and neighborhood groups as well as local artists. It will feature workshops, a parade, party, and exhibition. Please contact Missing Peace via e-mail or at (937) 241- 4353 if you’d like to volunteer. And if you would like awesome events like this to continue, please give to Cityfolk’s Post-Festival Campaign at their website.

 

Other opportunities:

  • Can you spare a few bucks to build a bocce court?

    Celebrate the Freedom to Read: The East Branch library in Dayton’s Walnut Hills neighborhood needs volunteers to read aloud for 30 minute or 1hr time slots during Banned Books Week (Oct 1-6). They have a collection of ‘challenged’ books to read from so all volunteers need bring with them is their voice and their enthusiasm for the freedom to read. They are hoping to have readers during all open library hours (MTTH 9:30-8:30; WSa 9:30-6). Contact Samantha or call the branch at 496-8930.

  • Deadline extended for St. Anne’s park fundraiser! St. Anne’s Hill residents hope to raise $1000 to match their City mini-grant for Terry park improvements, including an ornamental gate, bocce courts, and landscaping. Regardless of where you live, can you give $10? If we all give a little to neighborhoods outside our own, we’ll have some great parks! (Plus, you’ll feel entitled when you go there to play bocce.)

    Would this be helpful in Dayton? Image: timebanks.org

Discussions in our group

  • One topic of discussion I raised in our Facebook group is whether there is interest in starting a Time Bank for Dayton. This involves a network of people earning Time Dollars for every hour spent helping others in the network, which they can spend having someone else help them with a project. The exchanges are tracked using simple online software. It’s an incentive for volunteerism, can be helpful for anyone short on cash, and helps build community connections. Share your thoughts here.
  • Another topic that’s been debated in multiple spots this week is what to do with the recently-acquired Hughes Supply property that the City of Dayton recently acquired for development. Obviously it’s a sweet location, being right on the eastern end of the Oregon District at Fifth and Wayne. There are lots of good ideas out there, but the overwhelming majority of commenters on Dayton Most Metro, updayton, and our group hope it becomes a grocery store (BTW – If anyone’s interested in a downtown food co-op, I’ve got a group for that too). What do you think?

Don’t forget to e-mail me your items and report back your successes! And send pictures of your costumed volunteering!

 

Masquerage 2012- What’s the theme?

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The most frequently asked question of anyone involved in the planning, organizing and production of the AIDS Resource Center extravaganza known as Masquerage is “What’s the theme going  to be?”   Well, here’s YOUR chance to be one of the first to know!

An announcement of this magnitude deserves more than a simple post on the Masquerage web site.   It deserves a crowd of enthusiastic revelers to join Dayton’s own Rubi Girls at the fabulous Club Masque for a special style show produced by Square One Salon to help give you idea’s on how to dress for this year’s theme!  So join ARC Ohio  on Fri, August 3rd, 2012 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM at Club Masque and be amongst the first to know the theme for the 11th annual Masquerage.
In the past 10 years over 6500 attendee’s at Dayton’s Party of Parties For A Cause has helped the organization raise over $1,000,000 so ARC Ohio can continue to lead the fight against HIV/AIDS .  Specifically funding raised through Masquerage help  provide:

  • Outreach and prevention to individual at risk for infections
  • FREE HIV testing, counseling and referral services
  • Case management and support to HIV-infected individuals and their loved ones
  • Advocay concerning issues that affect the HIV community

Masque Nightclub will open it’s doors early just for Masquerage fans.  Here’s your chance to visit one of the midwest’s most talked about nightclubs to start off your First Friday.  Your $20 advance tickets include the exclusive reveal of the 2012 theme, appetizers, special drinks prices and other surprises. Tickets will be $25 at the door.  Masque is located at 34 N. Jefferson Street, Dayton, OH 45402.
As a special incentive to Theme Release Attendees, if you purchase your ticket for the Oct 20th Masquerage event at Club Masque that night, you may apply the $20 ticket to your ticket purchase price.  General admission tickets will be $50 and Red Ribbon Lounge VIP Tickets will run $150.  Tickets can be purchased online or by phone at 937-461-2437 x 2029.

Mad Molly & Batty Bonnie from Masquerage 2011

“Masquerage has become a signature event of AIDS Resource Center Ohio.  It brings people together for a spectacular evening while generating greater awareness about HIV/AIDS.  It also raises much-needed funds to benefit those living with or affected by HIV/AIDS” said Bill Hardy, executive director of AIDS Resource Center Ohio.   This year, he anticipates that the organization will provide assistance to nearly 4,000 individuals living with HIV and their loved ones, and reach thousands more at risk of HIV infection.  “We provide care and services for those already infected with the virus and help to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS”.

This year, the goal is to raise over $150,000 and and a sold out crowd is expected.  Each year a committee of dedicated volunteers work to coordinate a new theme, so that the event is bigger and better than the year before.

Guests can purchase a general admission ticket to the event for $50 in advance or $60 at the door, which includes a welcome drink courtesy of Jagermiester, dancing, entertainment and munchies. For a VIP experience, Ribbon Lounge tickets will again run $150 and include general admission amenities plus complimentary valet parking by Lexus of Dayton, the spectacular views from the 2nd floor lounge, mask painting,  open bar, appetizers and the always coveted swag bag.

Masquerage 2012 is made possible by: Levin Family Foundation, Jagermeister, Lexus of Dayton, CareSource, The Light Fantastic, Square One Salon, Premier Health Partners and MJ’s Cafe- the hosts of the official After Party.  Additional sponsorship opportunities still exist, contact ARC Ohio for more information.