{"id":1,"date":"2024-02-24T20:20:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-24T20:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/learning-technologies\/?p=1"},"modified":"2024-04-26T16:12:35","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T16:12:35","slug":"event-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-gabbygruszynski\/event-coverage\/","title":{"rendered":"ESP Big Hearts Talent Show Event Preview and Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Gabrielle Gruszynski<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Participants of the ESP Big Hearts Talent Show race down the red carpet in Athens Church on Jan. 30, 2023. The program is cited as the organization\u2019s largest fundraising event of the year, garnering $1.1 million for participants and their families in 2023 alone. (Photo\/ESP)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Extra Special People (ESP) will present its 17th annual Big Hearts Talent Show fundraising event at Athens Church on Friday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The talent show will proceed a black tie gala and silent auction on Feb.17 at The Classic Center, located in downtown Athens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big Hearts has become a staple of the nonprofit, evolving to a three-prong event helping to raise millions of dollars for participants. The talent show provides a unique  \u201cin-person family-friendly event\u201d<\/a> that allows \u201cpeople to come together to celebrate people with disabilities.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunter Pugh<\/a>, director of programs for ESP, has expressed her excitement for the types of entertainment audience members can expect at this year\u2019s performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s playing the flute, or singing, or dancing, we\u2019ve had participants do comedy skits, read poems, one is doing a wrestling match this year which is really exciting,\u201d<\/a> Pugh said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celebrity guest stars have become commonplace at Big Hearts, attracting patrons beyond those who attend to support the performers. Past hosts of the program have included the likes of former \u2018Bachelorette\u2019 star Josh Murrary, former NFL player David Pollack<\/a>, Sadie Robinson Huff of \u2018Duck Dynasty\u2019, former UGA quarterback Aaaron Murrary<\/a> amongst others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis year we\u2019re going to have Lorenzo Carter come from the Falcons football team, so just having more and more celebrity MCs is really great because they help us bring in more community members who want to watch them and see an awesome talent show,\u201d<\/a> said Pugh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 1986<\/a>, ESP serves as a nonprofit organization targeted at providing relief and community outreach to individuals with disabilities and their families. Through their after-school programs, summer camp experiences, Miracle League Baseball, music therapy lessons and personal development programs for siblings of ESP participants<\/a>, the organization now serves over 900 families<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big Hearts has skyrocketed in popularity,<\/a> affirming ESP\u2019s mission to keep \u2018changing communities for the better\u2019<\/a>. The 2020 Big Hearts event raised $250,000 for the organization’s programs<\/a>; this number dwindles in comparison to the $1.1 million raised in 2023 between the talent show, black tie gala and silent auction events. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tickets for the talent show can be purchased online via my.onecause.com<\/a> or at the door of the venue. Check-in and food trucks begin at 4:30 p.m., followed by a red carpet walk at 6:30 p.m. and the performance at 7 p.m<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Social Media Coverage: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why I Wrote the Story: <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I was ecstatic to have been selected to cover the Big Hearts Talent Show. My mom has her Ph.D. in speech and language pathology; growing up, she often let me volunteer with some of her patients with disabilities at the hospital she works at. When writing my event preview on Big Hearts, I felt a personal connection to the subject matter. I wanted to portray the liveliness and familial warmth of the event, while also writing something that would make my mom proud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Gabrielle Gruszynski Participants of the ESP Big Hearts Talent Show race down the red carpet in Athens Church on Jan. 30, 2023. The program is cited as the organization\u2019s largest fundraising event of the year, garnering $1.1 million for participants and their families in 2023 alone. (Photo\/ESP) Extra Special People (ESP) will present its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-gabbygruszynski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-gabbygruszynski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-gabbygruszynski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-gabbygruszynski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-gabbygruszynski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-gabbygruszynski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-gabbygruszynski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-gabbygruszynski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-gabbygruszynski\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}