In a few short months Mandy and Cullen Kennedy of St. Peter went from amateur dancers to performing a 90s hip-hop dance routine on stage in front of hundreds of people raise money for suicide prevention.
On Saturday, April 13, the Kennedys were invited alongside 11 other couples from Brown, Carver, McLeod, Nicollet, Renville, Sibley, and Wright counties to compete for the coveted mirrorball trophy at 2B Continued’s fourth annual Dancing Like the Stars Gala.
The fundraising event sold out seats to a crowd of 600 people, while over 400 more tuned in over livestream to watch the dance competition, which served as a fundraiser to benefit 2B Continued’s mission of preventing suicide and promoting mental health awareness.
The participants, strategically selected by 2B Continued’s Executive Director Tammy Diehn to include people from a variety of age groups, occupations and backgrounds with little to no dancing experience, not only competed on the dance floor but also in raising funds from individual donors and businesses to benefit the nonprofit’s mission. The Kennedys raised over $5,200 for 2B Continued, which received over $330,000 from the competition for its suicide prevention programming.
North Elementary School Social Worker Mandy Kennedy was terribly nervous when she was first asked to dance in the competition. Having little experience dancing, her first thought was to refuse the offer. But her husband Cullen, enthusiastic about the opportunity, convinced her to embrace the adventure.
Now, after three months of rehearsals with choreographer and Mankato East social worker Lindsey Northenscold, Kennedy is glad she took the leap.
“It was probably one of the funnest days we’ve ever had. My husband and I had a blast,” said Mandy Kennedy. “They pampered us the whole day and we met a lot of really awesome couples that were doing the dance too and made some lifelong friends for sure.”
For their performance, the Kennedys delivered a throwback to the 90s. Cullen walked onstage carrying his old boombox over his shoulder — finally seeing some action after many years in the garage. The couple then opened with a performance of the Carlton dance from the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” set to the tune of Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual.”
As the music changed over to “Lil Boo Thang,” by Paul Russell the Kennedys broke out some new dance moves they’d learned from Tik Tok, interspersed with classics like the sprinkler and the running man.
“We just had fun with it. We weren’t trying to these great professional dancers with perfect moves,” said Mandy. “We were mostly trying to be entertaining and funny and more of our personalities.”
Their approach was a hit with both the crowd and the panel of judges, who awarded the couple three 10s and a 9. But it was the Kennedys’ costumes that were the highlight of the show, with Cullen and Mandy wearing light-up sneakers alongside their $-bling. Their nostalgic outfits earned the Kennedys second place in the event’s costume contest.
But the Kennedys proudest accomplishment of the night may have been winning over her teenage son. Mandy said her 14-year-old was embarrassed when he saw his parents costumes for the first time, but that all changed when he sat down to watch the performance as it was being livestreamed.
“He texted us right away, ‘You guys killed it.’ I think that was our favorite part of the night because he went from thinking we were weird to being really impressed with us and proud of us,” said Mandy.
Proceeds from the event help 2B Continued continue the organization’s suicide prevention programming in the community. St. Peter High School is currently one of 16 schools which participate in the organization’s Teen Mental Health First Aid course, which teaches students in grades 10-12 how to identify and respond to signs of struggles with mental health and substance abuse in their friends and classmates. The course focuses on teaching students about how to have supportive conversations with their peers and how to get help from a trusted adult.
Beyond training teens, 2B Continued hosts education conferences — where community members, faith leaders, health care workers, social workers and other professionals receive education for addressing mental health challenges — and holds bereavement support groups for adults who have lost a loved one to suicide.
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