McKinney Resident's ‘Zumbathon’ to Give Back to Her Hometown of West
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| Rose
Baca/neighborsgo staff photographer |
Elliott strikes a Zumba pose at Texas Family Fitness in Frisco. A native of West, she organized RISE UP, Dance for West, a “Zumbathon” to be held on April 12, with proceeds to benefit The First Baptist Church of West Disaster Relief Fund. “Tammy is able to use her God-given talent to help other people,” said Brandy Stiffler, a three-year Zumba student and a friend of Elliott’s.
By MIKAELA CANNIZZO
By MIKAELA CANNIZZO
Published: 04 April 2014 08:04 AM
Updated: 04 April 2014 11:34 AM
As the anniversary of the fertilizer
explosion in West approaches, Tammy Elliott can still feel the effects when she
visits her hometown.
Elliott, a Zumba instructor who now
lives in McKinney, has friends back home who are still struggling to recover
from the powerful blast at the West Fertilizer Plant that killed 15 people —
including a dozen first responders — and injured more than 300. About 350 homes
and three schools were damaged severely.
The devastation moved Elliott to use
her passion for fitness to benefit the rebuilding efforts. She is organizing a
“Zumbathon” event for the cause after helping coordinate a similar event last
year. “RISE UP, Dance for West” begins at 5:30 p.m. April 12 at The Beach at
Craig Ranch in McKinney.
“The fact that I can dance and help
people in need is my favorite thing about being part of the Zumba community,”
Elliott said.
Elliott and a group of more than 40
Zumba instructors — including some who are traveling from Waco and West to
support the cause — will lead the two-hour fitness event featuring a
continuous, calorie-burning, Latin-inspired dance workout. West native Donna
Beckham, a country singer, will perform the national anthem during the opening
ceremony, and there will be a tribute to fallen West firefighters. All of the
event proceeds and 15 percent of food and drink sales until midnight will go to
The First Baptist Church of West Disaster Relief Fund.
Participants in her classes and
fellow Zumba instructors admire Elliott’s compassion for others and her love
for Zumba.
“Tammy is able to use her God-given
talent to help other people,” said Brandy Stiffler, a three-year Zumba student
and friend of Elliott’s. “I have been able to see firsthand how she has
impacted a family that I know personally.”
Sylvia Bernal is a Zumba instructor
and member of the organizing team for the Zumbathon. Like Elliott, she is
passionate about being part of the event.
“Helping Tammy with something that
she puts her heart and soul into every single day is so special,” Bernal said.
“Every time I talk to her, she is doing something to prepare for this
Zumbathon.”
In the days after the blast, Elliott
was so moved by what happened in her hometown that she began collecting
donations from friends in the Zumba community in North Texas. She accumulated
water, blankets, snacks, toiletries and other items, then drove to West with a
car full of donations.
“Driving through West for the first
time after the explosion was eerie,” she said. “To see all of the news media
and barricaded streets was so surreal.”
During several other visits, she was
inspired by the outpouring of support: HEB set up food trucks, Starbucks gave
out free coffee, and AT&T and Sprint provided phone chargers. Target and
Wal-Mart donated many necessities as well.
Elliott, whose parents moved to West
when she was 5 years old, has lived in McKinney for 11 years. She returns to
West at least every couple of months to visit her sister and her parents. Her
family members live east of the blast area, so their homes were not affected.
But she knows many who were not so lucky.
Jana Pratka is one of Elliott’s many
friends and former West High School classmates who lost their homes in the
April 17 explosion. With Pratka’s parents’ home also destroyed, the families
temporarily moved into houses at nearby Alligator Creek Ranch. But explaining
the death and destruction caused by the explosions to her 5- and 10-year-old
children was the hardest part, she said.
Pratka’s parents moved back into
their home a month ago, and she expects to be able to return soon. “The ranch
is nice, but I have missed the sense of comfort I had at my home,” she said.
In July, Elliott worked with fellow
Zumba instructor Shemane Nugent, the wife of Ted Nugent, and others from
Central Texas at the first Zumbathon for West. About 300 people attended the
event at the Baylor Ferrell Center, which raised $20,000.
The success of that Zumbathon left
Elliott wanting to do more.
This time, Elliott is hosting her
event in North Texas with the goal of encouraging a different group of people
to help her hometown. She hopes to attract at least 200 participants while
calling attention to what the West community is still going through.
“There is still so much to be done,”
she said.
Mikaela Cannizzo is a senior at
Frisco High School. She is studying journalism through the Frisco ISD
Independent Study and Mentorship program.
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Rose Baca/neighborsgo staff
photographer
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Tammy Elliott leads a Zumba class at
Texas Family Fitness on March 29, 2014 in Frisco. Elliott, a native of West,
Texas, organized a Zumbathon, RISE UP, Dance for West, on April 12, with
proceeds to benefit The First Baptist Church of West Disaster Relief Fund
