PENDLETON — The annual night of glitz, glamor and fundraising called Dancing With Your Pendleton Stars is another victim of COVID-19.

Organizers originally pushed the competition back to fall, but recently decided cancellation was the only option.

“It was on hold at first,” said organizer Sally Brandsen. “We shuffled it back to October. Then it became apparent that we’re in this pandemic for a long time.”

Despite the increasingly dismal likelihood that the event would actually happen, the seven dancers teamed up to raise almost $51,000 for their chosen charities. Fundraising serves as one of the criteria for which each dancer is scored, along with judges’ scores and audience votes on the night of competition. On that night, competitors dance with a professional dancer with whom they’ve trained for one week. The Community Action Program of East Central Oregon (CAPECO), which hosted the event, cannot name a winner with no actual event taking place, Brandsen said.

Dancers and their charities included Andrew Picken (dancing for the Rivoli Theater Coalition), Corrin Thompson (Pendleton Ice Sports Booster Association), Cyd Cimmiyotti (Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts), Nick McFarlane (Guardian Care Center), Jason Graybeal (Farmers Ending Hunger), Darshae Hunter (Pioneer Relief Nursery) and Murray Dunlap (Blue Mountain Community College theater program).

Cimmiyotti teamed up with her sister, Shannon Collins, to raise over $21,000 for Crow’s Shadow. The sisters, who grew up in Pendleton, reached out to childhood friends and others in their network and scored a $5,000 donation from Portland real estate developer and art connoisseur Jordan Schnitzer, who is a friend.

Collins had originally been slated to dance, not Cimmiyotti.

“Shannon was supposed to be in Dancing With The Pendleton Stars, but she hurt her shoulder,” Cimmiyotti said. “She volunteered me.”

It was an easy sell.

“She is outgoing, she loves to entertain, she’s athletic and she danced with Up With People,” said Collins.

The sisters set a goal of $20,000 and got started. Collins said she wrote letters to high school classmates, local artists and art lovers and other friends and acquaintances. She included self-addressed stamped envelopes.

Cimmiyotti got on the phone, emailed and used social media. She introduced people in her circle to Crow’s Shadow and invited them to like the art institute’s Facebook page.

They held a fundraiser at Virgil’s at Cimmiyotti, with owner Jennifer Keaton donating 10% of the night’s proceeds to Crow’s Shadow. In the end, the pair overshot their goal by more than $1,000.

Another dancer, Thompson, raised $16,455 for Pendleton Ice Sports Booster Association, a youth hockey club.

“Corrin has three boys participating in Pendleton Ice Sports,” Brandsen said. “It is a wonderful youth program in our community and Corrin was thrilled to bring awareness to their organization. She went all out.”

The CEO of CAPECO, Paula Hall, marveled at the fundraising success.

“People like the Pendleton Stars and their charities make our world a better place,” Hall said. “We are saddened that this incredibly impactful community event won’t happen this year; however, our number one priority is to ensure the health and safety of our community and this is the right decision. The amount raised this year without an event, during a pandemic, is awe-inspiring.”

“Every year, our stars model through leadership as they passionately raise funds and awareness for their nonprofits,” Brandsen said. “To not go all the way to the finish line this year was tough.”

Ticket sales support CAPECO’s food bank. The organization offered refunds to those who requested them. The event is slated to return next year.