LCS Vegas raises money for Somerville Homeless Coalition

The Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS),Tufts' community service umbrella organization, held its 20th annual LCS Vegas event for studentson Oct. 2 in the Armory in Somerville.

Senior Skyler Bast, co-president of LCS, said all proceeds from tickets, which amounted to roughly $1,200, along with food left over from the event, was donated to the Somerville Homeless Coalition (SHC).

According to the organization's website, SHC aids homeless and near homeless families and individuals by providing shelter and food assistance. The organization also helps those without homes secure permanent residences and offers homelessness prevention services. Bast said LCS frequently works with and fundraises for SHC, among other local organizations.

Last year, the LCS Vegas event raised $5,745 for RESPOND Inc., a New England-based domestic violence agency, and the Community Action Agency of Somerville, an organization that works to reduce poverty in the local area. 

This year's event, which had a semi-formal to formal dress code, featured casino games such as poker, blackjack and craps, as well as food, music, dancing, raffles, gift card prizes and photo booths. Attendees received fake "gambling" tokens, which could be cashed in at the end of the event to win raffle tickets and other prizes. According to the LCS Facebook page, prize gift cards were donated by local restaurants such as Sound Bites, Grafton Street Cambridge Restaurant, Christopher’s Restaurant, All Star Pizza Bar, Rudy’s Cafe, Joshua Tree Bar & Grill, Anna’s Taqueria, Nellie’s Wildflowers and Orleans Restaurant.

Sydney Peskin, an LCS staff member, said she was one of the individuals responsible for determining the prizes for the packages.

“Each member of the executive board was assigned to a restaurant to explain LCS and the event [to them], where the money was going, and [to] see if the restaurant was interested in donating," Peskin, a sophomore, said. "We got lots of responses and many restaurants gave us gift certificates."

This year's LCS Vegas was held earlier than usual, Bast said; normally the event is held at the end of October or the beginning of November. LCS chose to make the date earlier this year, in part because the academic year started late and because they wanted to account for other booking issues.

As a result, LCS Vegas coincided with Thetathon, an event held by the Tufts chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta last Friday, according to Bast. This resulted in fewer people attending LCS Vegas than usual, but also reduced the size of crowds waiting to participate in the event activities. Last year, 379 people attended the event, according to Gemma Stern, former co-president of LCS. Bast said the number of students who attended this year was between 80 and 90. 

“Even though we had fewer people, I think that the people who went had a good time," Bast said. "It was a really good number because everyone who wanted to play games was able to."

LCS Vegas also used to be held in the Hilton Boston Back Bay Hotel, Bast said. This year, LCS chose to move the event to the Armory for various reasons.

“We figured [the Hilton] is a pretty expensive venue, and by doing it in the Armory, we were able to spend more of our budget on food, entertainment and things like that," Bast said. "In the past, we would have the Hilton cater the food and there wasn’t that much of it and it wasn’t that great."

By hosting LCS Vegas in the Armory, LCS could afford food from East Coast Grill, a barbecue restaurant in Cambridge, and the group was able to hire a professional photographer, according to Bast.

 

Preliminary planning for the event began at the end of last semester, according to Bast. LCS started by looking for venues and caterers, then toured the Armory before finalizing the event in the fall.

Nearly all the subgroups of LCS helped plan or advertise for the event in some capacity, Bast said.

Peskin said she enjoyed helping plan for the event.

"It felt great being able to help out the coalition and have such a good turnout," she said.