The Iona Players held an open mic night with performances and sketches to raise money for veterans. The Iona Players, one of the performing arts groups at Iona University, hosted an open mic night on Nov. 8th to raise money for the Wounded Warriors Project, a non-profit organization that works to help veterans,

service members and their families. Wonder Warriors Project is not the first charity that the Iona Players donated proceeds to. It hosted monthly cabarets in 2023 and donated to other charities and organizations like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Lung Cancer Research Foundation and WIN.

The vice president of the Iona Players, Sean Rivera, said that the open mic night and other events hosted by the Iona Players are great ways for students to get involved with the organization and to give back to communities. “The open mic night was a success,” Rivera said. “We get to watch some amazing performances and raise money for good causes at the same time, it’s great.”

The event was held in the Henry Lecture Hall, located in the Lapenta School of Business building at 8 p.m. Students either sang songs of their choosing or acted in the student-written sketches.The Iona Players plan to host its next event, a cabaret, in December 2024. Any Iona student is encouraged to sign up

to perform their talents. The cabaret will be donating its proceeds to another charity but has not been announced yet. “Myself and the other members of the executive board haven’t decided on what charity or organization we want to support yet,” Rivera said. “We are planning to have a meeting soon with everyone to discuss all things related to this event and what our specific jobs will be for that night.