Downtown DeLand gets flashed, and poor people get warm coats

PHOTO BY TRACY LUNQUIST
Flashed — A flash mob performs in Downtown DeLand Dec. 17. Each dancer brought a jacket, and the winter wear was donated to charity after the performance.

Sweat Equity event has jacket donors dancing in the street

By Jen Horton
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Jan 6, 2012 - 11:34:05am

Editor's note: Another flash mob is planned in Downtown DeLand tonight, at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6, at Pioneer Park, on the corner of Woodland Boulevard and Rich Avenue. This one, called an Epiphany Flash Mob, is a production of Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church in DeLand.

It was 11:30 a.m on a Saturday morning, just eight days before Christmas.

The stoplight at New York Avenue and Woodland Boulevard in Downtown DeLand changed to red, and 60 hip-shaking dancers jumped into the southbound lane of Woodland.

When the light turned back to green, the dancers split into two groups. One line stood in the center of the lanes on the double-yellow line; the rest danced in parking spaces and on the sidewalks until the light changed again and the southbound lane cleared. The pattern continued for almost four minutes.

DeLand had been flashed.

Flash-mobbed, that is. It was all for a good cause, said Diane Shadgett, co-owner of Sweat Equity, at 1205 S. Woodland Blvd. in DeLand.

Shadgett and one of her Zumba instructors, Yolanda Velazquez, had seen flash mobs — groups of people who learn a dance, meet somewhere, perform the routine, and then disperse. They thought it would be fun to put one together in DeLand.

Velazquez also teaches Zumba at the DeLand Family YMCA.

"I asked Yolanda to organize it," Shadgett said. "She put together the dance and posted it on Facebook."

The women decided their flash mob would be a coat drive. Each dancer was asked to bring a jacket or hooded sweatshirt, which would be donated to charity after the event.

"We had about 60 people participate," Shadgett said. "We collected 50-60 jackets, I believe, and donated them to Faith at Work."

Faith at Work Director Dennis Weir called the donation wonderful, and much-needed.

"We distributed them primarily to homeless individuals," Weir said. "A few others were distributed to those in need of winter wear."

Shadgett's health studio intends to continue helping charity through innovation.

"Right now, we are offering free training for Me Strong, a 5K for cancer awareness," Shadgett said. "The training is Wednesdays at 5:15 p.m."

She also sees another flash mob in the future.

"We will do another flash mob in the spring for shoes," she said.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/sweatequity1, or call 386-624-6918.

To see a video of the December flash mob, visit ZumbaYolanda on YouTube and search for Zumba Flash Mob for Charity.

For more information about Faith at Work, visit www.stbarnabaschurchdeland.org/outreach, or call 386-734-9708.

— jen@beacononlinenews.com

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