Glitterball Benefit for the Victims of Orlando

Hi friends. Alex here. I’m part of the Jukely team, where I throw it down as Head of Marketing. I’m writing to tell you about the GLITTERBALL show benefiting the victims of Orlando and their families, which we are very pleased to support. But before I do, I thought I’d properly introduce myself to you, and explain why this show is so personally dear to my heart.

Look, I know we don’t usually speak person to person like this, but today’s an exception. It’s an exception because right now I’m packing to return home to Orlando for an unspeakably heartbreaking task — to bury and mourn some of my friends.

I attended the University of Central Florida and lived in Orlando for 6 years, and being the, ehem, fabulous individual that I am (hint: gay), I frequented Pulse quite a bit.

You can probably imagine that it’s been a strange, sad, and difficult week for me and my friends. We lost a lot of people. Incredible, beautiful, young people. Good people.

Ok, Ok, Jukely stuff:

Our wonderful friends at House of Yes have organized a benefit for the victims and families affected by the tragedy in Orlando called GLITTERBALL. The event will take place at House of Yes this Sunday from 8pm to 4am.

This is a FREE event, but donations are strongly suggested, and proceeds from the bar will go to the victims and their families.

Before I give you the details on this delicious lineup, let me first say that each entertainer came forward and has volunteered all of their own compensation to be forwarded to the Pulse Victims Fund. I can’t tell you what that means to me.

Here they are:

You can RSVP to this event through Jukely (it’s a “bonus” event, so you can still be RSVP’d to another show at the same time), or you can get your tickets right here.

Please remember: these were young people, people whose families were not planning on massive hospital bills, legal expenses, or the cost and burden of burying a loved one. Like so many of us, they just wanted to go out and have a good time on a Saturday night.

Instead of the traditional signoff, here are a few photos of me (hey!) and friends at Pulse. Yes, I unlocked the chest of “night out” pictures from college that I swore would always remain closed. Just this once.

P.S. If you have any LGBT friends, you may not realize how much they’re suffering, or how deeply they have been affected by what happened — even if they didn’t know anyone in Pulse that night, even if they’ve never been to Orlando. BuzzFeed had some thoughts on how to help them, and I couldn’t agree more.