10 dancers selected for annual Dancing for a Cause fundraiser

The cast for the sixth annual Dancing for a Cause fundraiser was announced Wednesday morning.
 
"Our dancers, our celebrities do all of the fundraising, and that's one of the responsibilities they accept,"  said Jeanne Buffington, Executive Director of Rape Response. Rape Response, Center Point and the Hall County Alliance for Literacy team up each year for the fundraiser. "They can do that through selling sponsorships, because we have tables that are available... after that, they can raise votes that are a dollar a piece."
 
This year, Nairika Cornett, John Darden, Fr. Tim Hepburn, Scott LeFevre, Rena Millwood, Beverly Nordholz, Jennifer Pirkle, Brad Puryear, Michael Reins and Tyra Wimpye will take the stage for the nonprofit organizations. The dancers will be allotted 10 hours of training time with a professional coach before the big day on August 24 at 6 p.m. at the Chattahoochee Country Club. Sam Couvilion will serve as the Master of Ceremonies.  
 
"When they asked me to be a part of this, they asked what our dance style was, and I referred them to this movie called Hitch," said Father Tim Hepburn, of St. Michael's Catholic Church. A scene in the movie depicts one of the main characters dancing comically, while getting tips from a dating expert. "So I say my dance style is the same dance style as Kevin [James] in the movie Hitch, when Will Smith slapped him across the face and said 'never, ever do that again.'"
 
There is no set funding goal for the celebrities to raise, Buffington said. Last year, the dancers raised over $210,000. The winner of the dance competition doesn't see a monetary prize, as the event is for charity, but instead gets the Mirror Ball trophy for one year, and the Community Star winner also receives a trophy.
 
There are no tickets at the door for the event, so those who want to watch these local celebrities dance the night away will need to purchase tickets from the dancers themselves, or businesses that are selling tickets.
 
The dancers, officials and last years winner met Wednesday for a breakfast meeting to get to know each other and go over how the fundraiser works, as well as take some photos. Click through the gallery to see some of the photos from the breakfast.