'Dancing With The Stars' Fundraiser For Adam's House Scheduled For Oct. 14

SHELTON — Local community leaders are getting ready to rumba, samba and waltz their way toward raising money for Shelton-based grief education center Adam’s House.

The third annual Dancing with the Starts’ competition will feature seven area celebrities’ paired with professional partners from Fred Astaire Dance Studios. The star-studded event hosted by Adam’s House is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 14 at Birchwoods at Oak Lane in Woodbridge.

The event will feature dinner, drinks, a silent auction, music and, of course, dancing. The evening’s highlight will be the dance competition where the pairs will strut their stuff on the dance floor performing routines from the cha-cha-cha and disco to salsa and the swing and everything in between, according to a press release.

Celebrity Judge, Tony Dovolani, famous for his 21 seasons on ABC’s hit TV show, Dancing with the Stars,’ will be available for a meet & greet prior to the main event. Dovolani will also serve on a panel of judges who will critique the dance routines and award a Judge’s Choice Award to the pair with the highest score.

Guests, friends, family and community supporters who are unable to attend the event can also cast their votes for their favorite dancing duo by visiting

www.adamshousect.org/dwts2022.

The duo with the most votes will be crowned the People’s Choice Award.

This year’s cast includes Julie Blakeman, a realtor with Carey & Gurerra and Nenad Pavlovic, Fred Astaire; Lisa Chester, Director of Development with Bridgeport Rescue Mission and Brenna Petrelli, Fred Astaire; Richard Dziekan, Mayor City of Derby and Amanda Meador, Fred Astaire; Debra Eccles, former Ms. Sr. CT and Felix Reyes, Fred Astaire; Tim Fedor, a Trumbull Police detective and Stephanie Pavlovic, Fred Astaire; Taylor Kinzler, host of CT Live Life Style’ and Tsvetomir Stoynor, Fred Astaire; and Chris Mazza, Adam’s House Helping Hearts Heal’ Alumni and Nghi Tran, Fred Astaire.

Serving as the event’s emcee for the second consecutive year is Ron Claiborne, a retired ABC News correspondent.

We are so grateful to Ron Claibrone, Tony Dovolani, and the Orange, Shelton, and Canton Fred Astaire Dance Studios for partnering with us this year,” said Adam’s House Executive Director Allison Wysota, via a press release. Their enthusiasm, talents and unwavering support of our mission to serve the bereaved community means the world to us. The success of this event allows us to keep our services completely free and 100 percent of all proceeds will go directly to our Helping Hearts Heal’ program, offering grief support to Connecticut children and their families.”

According to Sarah Domena, Adam’s House director of corporate relations and community outreach, last year’s DWTS event raised more than $30,000 for Adam’s House, a Shelton-based grief and loss education center that helps children and their families deal with loss of a loved one.

Dziekan, the only local elected official in the competition, will be dancing the rumba with his professional partner. He’s been practicing his moves at Shelton’s Fred Astaire Studio and with no prior dance experience, believes he longer has two left feet.

I got involved because that is what I do, I love helping people out,” Dziekan said. I knew nothing about the Adam’s House organization, but learning what they do, I jumped right in to raise all I can for them.”

Dziekan and the other non-professional dancers each received six free dance lessons and can then raise money for up to eight more. So far, Dziekan has completed seven lessons and has raised money for four more. 

I am totally looking forward to this, plus it’s helping me become a better dancer with my girlfriend, Sherry,” Dziekan noted.

Tickets for both the meet & greet and the main event are on sale now, but space is limited. Those interested in attending can buy tickets at

www.adamshousect.org/dwts2022

Anyone interested in buying an ad in the program or donating auction items can contact communityoutreach@adamshousect.org

This event is sponsored by Spotlight; Thor Specialties, Inc; Break-A-Leg; Berchem Moses; OEM; Valley Community Foundation; PMA Companies and the Progressive Institute.

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