Breakfast-for-dinner raises money for Dance Marathon charity

Sound Bites Restaurant welcomed members of the Tufts community to a kickoff dinner yesterday to fundraise for the Tufts Dance Marathon.

The dinner was held from 5 to 8 p.m. and featured an all-you-can-eat Mediterranean buffet, free coffee and selections from the breakfast menu for $12 a person.

82 people attended, and $979 was raised. $490, one half of the proceeds, went to the Dance Marathon.

The Dance Marathon is a campus-wide campaign that hopes to raise at least $20,000 for the Children's Trust Fund, a non-profit organization aimed at preventing child abuse.

"I'm really happy with the turnout, especially considering the weather," said senior Deborah Block, the Tufts Community Union senator who has been responsible for much of the marathon's organization.

Students in the Dance Marathon Committee have spent this semester and much of last semester preparing for marathon-related events.

The Sound Bites fundraiser "is the culmination of our first round of advertising," said TCU Vice President Bruni Hirsch, a senior who sits on the committee.

Sound Bites' owner, Yasser Mirza, was pleased with the night's results. "It definitely went better than expected," he said. "We should do this every week. It's fun for you, it's fun for me and you get to raise money for charity."