Michael Crumpton, 41, received a phone call on Saturday morning that would make his day.
“You can call me DJ Turnup Mike,” he said. Crumpton has been working as a DJ since 2016 and was excited to be invited to work that night. His personal care giver, Darrell Linzy, is the vice president of Lync Support Services, a non-profit organization that provides CPR classes, companion and home health services for people with disabilities in the Gainesville area and thought Crumpton would like the idea of playing in Lync´s first annual Halloween Party. But why throwing a Halloween Party in the beginning of October? “We wanted to do something different like a kickoff for the Halloween month,” Linzy said. Twelve tables were posted around the room with black and orange skeletons, black roses and spiders. Three of them were being used to serve food. Hot dogs, pizza, potato chips, sodas, fake blood punch and lots of candies were being served. Tickets for the event were sold for $6 at the entrance and $43 was the amount collected. The funds are going to help to pay for the supplies used to decorate the room and for the food ordered. The event was schedule to start at 6 p.m. Roger Gross, 57, Robbie Graham, 49, and their personal care giver Abdoul Kanseiga, 29, were the first to arrive an hour later. “We didn´t promote it as much as we wanted to, but that´s OK. It´s an opportunity for us to see what we can do better,” Linzy said. Kanseiga has been working with Gross and Graham for two years serving as a companion during the weekends. “Robbie wanted to wear a Spider-Man costume,” he said, “but they didn´t have it in the store.” Lucky Devon Dukes, 17, won the best costume award of the night. His costume was simple: a monster mask, as he would describe it. Dukes spent the night hiding and scaring everyone who would come into the room. He was very determined. Gross won the best dancer award, by singing YMCA by The Village People and moving his hips with Big Pimpin´ by Jay-Z feat.UGK. Both won a $5 Subway gift card. The party served as an experiment, and the goal is to have more holiday parties in the future, according to the Lync President Lukisha King. “I just want people to have a good time, that´s it,” King said. “I´m having a good time,” Michael Crumpton said, “I´m the kind of DJ that wants to see people happy. I love making people happy.” Katy Perry and Madonna are Crumpton favorite artists, but he decided to play classical rock and hip-hop Saturday night. “I play what everybody wants to hear,” he said, “I do my own thing.”
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AuthorGiovanna Kubota is a 22-year-old Brazilian pursuing a master's degree in Communication at the University of Central Florida. |