By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Revelers dressed in their very best will join together this evening in Hays for the Emerald Ball, a black-tie event supporting an international Parkinson’s disease charity.
Proceeds from the gala will benefit the Davis Phinney Foundation, a nonprofit group that focuses on improving quality of life for people living Parkinson’s, and The Emerald Foundation, a non-profit organization with a two-fold mission–to increase Parkinson’s disease awareness through the arts and to provide Parkinson’s disease patients with opportunities to engage in the arts.
People like J. Basil Dannebohm, 33, who was diagnosed with the young onset form of the neurodegenerative disease three years ago. Since then, the former Hays resident has been a leading advocate for Parkinson’s research, treatment and awareness.
In 2015, he briefly served in the Kansas House of Representatives, representing the 113th District as an Ellinwood resident, but resigned due to health complications.
Dannebohm is the founder of The Emerald Foundation.
“Studies have shown that when Parkinson’s patients take dopamine-enhancing drugs, their artistic nature sometimes comes out. They tend to write more, to paint, to sculpt. Equal to the physical therapy and medications that are necessary for Parkinson’s disease, one needs to have a creative outlet or your brain will ‘slip’ at times,” Dannebohm explained.
“So what The Emerald Foundation is designed to do is provide arts-inspired events, such as Saturday’s Emerald Ball. We had a concert with a violinist on Pawnee Rock, live theatre, poetry readings, cooking workshops. We’re also spreading awareness of Parkinson’s disease,” he added.
Dannebohm and volunteers with The Emerald Foundation talked Friday with hundreds of Hays students in the FHSU Beach Schmidt Performing Arts Center about Parkinson’s, how patients are often helped to feel better when participating in or attending art-related activities and emphasized the importance of a healthy lifestyle for all people.
The musical arts will be featured during Saturday’s gala with performances by legendary vocalist Frankie Valens, who shot to fame in the 1960s and enjoyed hits with “This Magic Moment” and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” alongside Ron Neuman and the Diamonds Vocal Band. The Diamonds launched to fame in 1956 with their first hit “Why do Fools Fall in Love,” followed by 15 more Top Hits that sold more than 16 million copies including “Little Darlin,” “The Stroll” and “Silhouettes.” Valens now lives in Derby, Kan.
The evening includes a sumptuous five-course meal, silent and live auctions of one-of-a kind items, celebrity emcees and guests, and a dance, all in the Fort Hays State University Schmidt-Bickle Indoor Training Facility, Sat. Nov. 21.
A portion of the fundraiser’s proceeds will go to the Hays Area Children’s Center.