Annual SMU benefit dance raises nearly $17,000 for leukemia patient

Approximately 716 people danced to the Johnny Holm Band during this year’s Taylor Richmond Benefit Dance April 12 at Saint Mary’s University.


Money raised at this year’s Taylor Richmond Benefit Dance will help Steve Groby ’01, left, who has leukemia. With Groby is the benefit’s namesake Taylor Richmond and his mother, Nikki Richmond.

WINONA, Minn. — About 716 people attended Saint Mary’s University’s eighth annual Taylor Richmond Benefit Dance on April 12.

Proceeds from the dance — and a silent auction held on campus — raised just over $16,900 for this year’s beneficiary, SMU alum Steve Groby ’01 of Shakopee, formerly of Wabasha. Groby was diagnosed on March 16, 2006 with Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia, which resulted in a bone marrow transplant last May.

This benefit dance has become an annual tradition since it was started by students in 2001 in honor of Taylor Richmond, son of Saint Mary’s Campus Ministry and Student Activities staff member Nikki Richmond and her husband Nick Richmond, both of Cochrane, Wis. Taylor has a genetic terminal illness called Ataxia Telangiectasia (A-T) and the money from his benefit was used to fulfill Taylor's dream of going to Disneyworld. Each year this event benefits someone in the SMU community in need.

Donations are still being accepted. To help, send checks — payable to the Taylor Richmond Benefit Dance — to Katie LaPlant, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, 700 Terrace Heights No. 1471, Winona, MN 55987.