Mandala Yoga Center For Healing Arts Hosting Hamptons Hoedown For Hurricane Relief

Get ready to do-si-do and swing your partner ’round and ’round during a “Hurricane Hoedown” hosted by Mandala Yoga Center for Healing Arts. Taking place at Scoville Hall in Amagansett on Friday, October 27, the festive affair will feature live music from Dance All Night, live caller, Chart Guthrie, and other exciting themed experiences.

“I wanted to do something more fun than just donating a yoga class. There’s only so much money you can raise doing that,” explained Jolie Parcher, owner of Mandala Yoga in Amagansett. “I thought let’s do something Texan, and then Irma hit and then Jose hit, so we kept with the Texas inspiration.”

Proceeds will support hurricane relief efforts through Team Rubicon (teamrubiconusa.org) and Give More Hugs (www.givemorehugs.org). Team Rubicon, a disaster response organization composed of military veterans and qualified civilians, has teams in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and Dominica. Give More HUGS, whose mission is “to unite giving souls to help underprivileged students develop a lifelong love for learning, reading, and creativity,” is providing food, hygiene items, and other supplies for some of the most vulnerable communities impacted by Hurricane Maria.

“Part of the big inspiration for it was this organization Melissa [Berman of East End Cares] had worked with when Katrina and Sandy hit, Team Rubicon. We just felt very excited to work with a group that has veterans who decided to use their training to do good work, emergency relief services, and they seem to really have success,” Parcher explained. “They work with people that have PTSD and try to transform veterans’ lives.”

For Parcher, Hurricane Maria hit particularly close to home. “One of my teachers lived in Dominica for many years and she knew a family that lost two kids in the flood, a seven-year-old and eight-year-old. So she was going insane,” she explained. “We just started gathering stuff and she’s connected to an organization that’s doing work down there, specifically medical services and helping the kids get back into some kind of school. We thought let’s raise a bunch of money and divide it between these two organizations.”

“It just felt it would be nice to do something community based. Anyone can come to the hoedown,” noted Parcher. “We’ve got a caller and a band and they’ll tell us the steps. You can be old, you can be young, you can be a kid, you can be a good dancer, you can be a bad dancer – the idea is just to celebrate our community.”

She’s incredibly grateful for the community’s support and says over 20 businesses have reached out to lend a helping hand. “We’re getting chili from Townline BBQ and we’ll have a vegetarian chili from Organic Krush. Vicky’s Veggies is making cornbread,” she shared. “The IGA is donating a bunch of cider and cheddar cheese. Balsam Farm is giving us all kinds of decorations.” When she went to print flyers at East Hampton Business Service and they found out it was for the benefit, they generously waived the bill. “Everybody’s doing something. It’s awesome,” she said. “Everybody’s jumping in.”

There will also be a selfie station where you can take pictures with your friends donning hoedown themed accesories.

Parcher notes its an easily way to contribute for those “looking for something to do to help with all the chaos and tragedy going on all around us. They can trust that these are really good organizations.”

“It’ll be fun to just dance and be in our community,” Parcher added. “It’ll be a really fun fall celebration.”

The suggested donation is $20 for adults and $5 for kids. The “Hurricane Hoedown” will be held from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

Scoville Hall is located at Main Street and Meeting House Lane in Amagansett. For more information, visit mandalayoga.com.