Have you lost your faith in humanity? If so, prepare to find it again after reading why Caleb Colon-Rivera, 5th year senior at UW-La Crosse, decided to host a charity event for the New Horizons Women’s Shelter for his birthday.

The Cirque des Noir Charity Event will be held 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Friday, April 10 at the Concordia Ballroom in La Crosse. It is an 18+ event. Tickets are $15 presale or $20 at the door. Tickets can be purchased through Rivera, himself, or Chuck Snyder, another UW-L student. They can also be purchased at ELV8D Entertainment’s website. The majority of the event’s proceeds will go to the New Horizons Women’s Shelter. The shelter provides housing and safe space for woman. They also do outreach programs such as food drives and talking to the community about feminism.

There will be a pre-party 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Chuck’s Bar. Everything is already paid for.

“Drinks are on me,” Rivera said.

ELV8D Entertainment will be hosting the charity event alongside Rivera and will be providing local disc jockeys DJ WAZZY and DJ 4MATIK as entertainment. Attendees can expect Electric Dance Music (EDM) ranging from Trap, Dubstep, House, Progressive, Trance, Drum n Bass and Minimal, as well as hip-hop and house music. Drag Queens Jojo Jubilee, Isabella Latwa-Richards and Tammy Whynot-Breeze will also be performing, as well as the UW-L LC Hip-hop Dance team.

There is no dress code, but the theme colors are black and purple, and Rivera expects everyone to be covered in glitter.

“There’s not going to be many decorations. Essentially, the people will be the decorations. You’re aloud to do anything without judgment and be as creative and artsy as you want,” said Rivera.

The theme was a toss-up between Alice and Wonderland and Cirque des Noir. Rivera wanted to do something “other worldly.” In the end, Rivera decided Cirque des Noir ads a fancy feel to it and lets people be more “avant garde.”

Rivera said, “It’s kind of just an escape form the real world for a bit.”

Last year, Rivera held a charity event for the LGBT Seven Rivers Resource Center, raising $500. This year, Rivera hopes to raise more for New Horizons as the event will be much larger. Rivera said is not affiliated with New Horizons at all; he just likes helping people.

“I help people to the point where I don’t have resources for myself anymore,” he said.

Rivera thinks that supporting each other is one thing the La Crosse community is “okay at doing” and believes this is extremely important.

“I figured throwing a party for my birthday and raising money for an organization that needs it would be even better,” said Rivera.

He described the event as a “party with a purpose.”