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Traverse City’s SwingShift and the Stars: A Fun, Friendly Fundraiser

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In Traverse City, sometimes dancing is just for fun—and sometimes it’s for a friendly fundraiser.

is known for getting residents, businesses and local celebrities heavily involved in raising money for local charities.

In the past, members of the 9&10 News family have even played a part as celebrity dancers, judges and individual donors.

This year our own Adam Bartelmay will be a judge for the Dec. 13 lip sync competition.

He spoke with Swingshift and the Star’s Judy Harrison and Sherry Galbraith, the events coordinator, about how nonprofits benefit from this high-profile community fundraiser.

“The money comes in through the nonprofits,” Sherry says. “We at Swingshift and the Stars make it very clear we provide a platform, we’re a catalyst for community engagement. The nonprofits step on board and they actually go through quite a bit of training to sort of hone their skills or sometimes develop skills in order to learn how to fundraise or to learn how to fundraise differently.”

Participants have raised about $3.5 million since the event’s creation 12 years ago.

The first dance-off is Sept. 20. at the City Opera House in Traverse City. For a full list of events, visit .