Published: August 29, 2008 10:19 pm            

Breaksk8 hopes to donate

United Way in the running to receive $25,000 from MTV dance show.

Alison Brantley was a fan of Breaksk8 when they were on “America’s Best Dance Crew.”

But after Thursday night, the special events and communications coordinator of the United Way might just be their biggest fan.

That’s when she got a call from MTV saying Breaksk8, Kokomo’s favorite roller-skating, hip-hop break-dancing team, hopes to donate $25,000 to the local organization.

“We were very stunned,” Brantley said. “We were all like a bunch of 12-year-old girls running around.”

Five of the top dance teams from seasons 1 and 2 of “America’s Best Dance Crew” are vying today for the chance to perform on this year’s MTV Video Music Awards preshow. At 1 p.m., those crews are also going head to head in hopes of presenting an award at the show and donating $25,000 to their charity of choice. Breaksk8 chose the United Way as its charity.

Brantley, who normally spends her days working on the United Way’s fundraising campaign, spent Friday working on the campaign to get locals to support Breaksk8 on today’s show.

“This year’s goal is $2 million, so we spend from Sept. 1 to whenever we hit $2 million,” she said. “We don’t sleep, eat or breathe anything except raising money, so $25,000 would be huge to the 17 agencies we support.”

At 2 p.m. today, viewers will have the chance to vote for their favorite crew online at www.dancecrew. mtv.com. Voting will close at 9 p.m. today.

The top two crews will perform at the VMA’s preshow at 8 p.m. Sept. 7. Viewers will then vote again for their favorite of the two crews, and the winner will present the award for Best Dancing in a Video at the VMAs at 9 p.m. Sept. 7 and $25,000 will be donated to their charity of choice.

“This would be absolutely huge for us,” Brantley said. “I don’t think we’ve had anything of this magnitude, as far as a random, out-of-the-blue gift get dropped in our lap.”

With the economy as tight as it is, Brantley said, an extra boost in this year’s campaign could be the difference between reaching the $2 million goal or having to give less to the 17 organizations the United Way funds.

Brantley said many people use United Way organizations and don’t even know it.

“People that take their kids to swim lessons at the YMCA or they are in a Girl Scout or Boy Scout troop, they probably don’t even realize that those are a United Way agency, which is great,” she said. “That’s why we’re here.”

While Brantley encourages everyone to log onto the “America’s Best Dance Crew” Web site and vote for Breaksk8, she said that doesn’t change the mission of this year’s campaign.

“We’re going to work just as hard whether or not we get the $25,000 from ‘America’s Best Dance Crew,’ because it does take everyone in our community giving their best, even if it’s just a dollar a week,” she said. “It takes everyone to keep our programs funded.”

        

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