Wednesday night I was able to attend the DoSomething.org 20th birthday party. Hanson.net was giving away 50 tickets to fans since they would be performing. We had no idea what to expect – we knew it would be a fancy charity event but other than that knew nothing. We arrived at the Hammerstein Ballroom, checked in and were ushered upstairs to the balcony to grab a seat. Sitting near us was the PS22 Chorus and they were all really getting into the songs the DJ was playing! PS22 ended up leaving to go get ready to perform and they opened the show with some songs from 20 years ago – Goo Goo Dolls Iris and Oasis Wonderwall. Then they went into MMMBop and Hanson joined them on stage. (Not quite 20 years old yet… but getting three!) Hanson ended up playing MMMBop and their new single Get The Girl Back.
We weren’t sure if that would be it or not, so we stuck around. Isaac, Taylor and Zac were at one of the gala tables eating so we figured as long as they were still around, we might as well stick around. I learned a lot about DoSomething and they really are a great organization and encourage teens to start their own campaigns to help others and many of them have been very successful. One of them is “give a spit about cancer” and they brought a girl up who registered to be in the bone marrow system and saved a 5 year old girls life. They had a video from her family that was very touching.
The CEO and COO (I think that’s their titles) of Do Something were also in a dunk tank by the end of the night. It started out that if they raised $1mil that Nancy would be dunked, but Aria ended up saying that if they raised I think $10k more, she would be in the dunk tank too – without a change of clothed. They added a HUGE cooler full of ice and both ended up soaked to end the evening. Then there was a big dance party and Hanson hung around and chatted with everyone.
Overall, it was a very interesting night, but very inspirational and fun. Not something I probably would have found myself involved in otherwise, but I am glad I went.