By Ali Muldoon
This past Saturday, Greenwich High School junior Omar Galal and a fervent group of 10 other high school students brought the record for “longest distance danced in a conga line” home to Greenwich. While the group is still waiting for official recognition of their work from Guinness World Records, acknowledgment of their efforts was not the only reason for Omar’s ambitious endeavor.
The nearly 16 miles, 64 laps, and 6 hours spent shuffling and kicking raised over $10,000 for River House Adult Day Center. The River House, situated directly on the Mianus River in Cos Cob, is a locale where aging adults can remain engaged and active through a wide array of activities from balloon volleyball to art therapy. The nonprofit is a means of supporting Greenwich seniors and their caregivers and has been running since 1977.
Donna Spellman, executive director of River House Adult Day Center, explained that she was “touched and inspired” by Omar’s idea. She was especially moved by such an initiative coming from somebody so young.
Spellman explained that while Galal didn’t have a previous relationship with the center, he wanted to help support the elderly community and was very impressed with the work that River House does. He knew that he wanted to help support them in a way that would be impactful.
While brainstorming fundraising tactics to drum up money for the center, Galal let his imagination run free – beyond more conventional methods such as bake sales and donation jars.
The event took weeks to plan, including getting approval from the Guinness Records organization. Galal had a vision of success for his event “Conga4All” and followed it into motion.
The event was publicized, and Greenwich residents were encouraged to come and cheer for the dancers. The Conga team began their long trek bright and early at the Cardinal Stadium at 6 AM and already had almost half of their set distance completed by 9 AM. There was food and music set up for spectators while the over six-hour challenge transpired.
As supporters came and left, the 11 individuals persisted. The team used the good cause as fuel to power them through each sequence. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, kick. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, kick.
After dozens of laps, they finally reached the finish line just past noon.
Galal is still raising money for the River House and has created a GoFundMe page that can be found at https://gofund.me/5bd589ac.
