Delta’s Business and Entrepreneur Club hosted its first-ever talent show on Friday, Nov. 22.
Students were given a chance to compete for a $300 prize with proceeds directed back to Delta College’s Student Food Pantry.
There were 21 acts, ranging from singers, bands, comedians, and dancers.
There were also 194 members in the audience who voted for the best acts. There were judges present, but they were only there to critique and comment, rather than decide on the best acts.
The voting was broken down into three different categories: best singer, best dancer, and best variety act.
Patricia Boron was voted the best singer. Jimmy Xiong was voted best dancer. Minus 3 was voted the best variety act.
Boron sang Alicia Keys’s “If I Ain’t Got You.” Xiong break danced to Skrillex’s “Cinema.” Minus 3 performed Violent Femmes’s “Blister in the Sun.”
It was then up to the audience to vote for the best act out of the three. Minus 3 was voted as the best performance, winning the $300 prize.
The students of Delta College may be the real winners, though, since the club was able to raise $2,000 for the pantry, located on the first floor of the Shima Building.
The money was raised through the talent show ticket sales and outside donations.
During intermission, buckets were passed around for the audience to donate, and an extra $207 was collected.
Steve Rincon, a singer and guitar player in the show, said “it’s important for [the money] to go back to the pantry,” and that events raising money for the campus and clubs is a great idea.
Event host and member of the club Tony Zhee said, “the money raised will be used to restock the food pantry.”
Dean of Enrollment Services and Student Development Dr. Angela Tos, who was in attendance, said she was “touched by the show of support,” and “the contributions are going to change students’ lives.”
Tos said a Basic Needs survey was conducted in Fall 2018, and out “of 1217 students, 73% said they were food insecure within the prior 3 days.” “Three-quarters of the people who took the survey didn’t know where their next meal was coming from.”
The pantry opened in March. Tos said it has served 5,688 students since then with 3,493 visiting in the fall semester alone. More than 700 have registered for services this fall, with daily student numbers averaging 116, Tos said.
According to Dr. Tos, the food pantry opened in March of 2018, “and since March, [the pantry] has served 5688 students.”
3493 students visited the pantry in the Fall semester alone, 729 students have registered to be apart of the food pantry this Fall, and a daily student visits average of 116.
“Thank you. From the bottom of my heart and on the behalf of students, thank you for supporting the food pantry,” said Tos during the event.
The event was sponsored by Quail Lakes Baptist Church, who also performed a non-participating opening act, Deli Delicious, T4, and Empresso.