Lights of Winterfest

Event
Event:	Lights of Winterfest (The Lights of Winterfest, Lights of Winterfest Project)
Participants:
Date(s):	1989 to at least 1991
Type:
Fandom:	Beauty and the Beast (TV)
URL:
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Lights of Winterfest was a fan organization with a focus on charity and good works. It was created/conceived by Cara Giaquinto and Barbara DeMarco, and run by Sister Dorothy "Dot" Sconzo.

Progress reports, in the form of letters from charitable recipients and descriptions of actions, as well as testimonials in the form of letters appeared in issues of Tunneltalk, a Beauty and the Beast (TV) letterzine.

Comments from Sister Dot Sconzo

See Sharing the Lights of Winterfest (1991).

Some other comments:

Sister Dot Sconzo wrote in Tunneltalk:

There are two points concerning LoW that I feel it necessary to make at this time:

1. LOW is a very small part of what's evolved from B&TB fandom. There are many fans of the show who are active in many different ways to make our world a better place. LoW knows nothing about most of these people or their works. It remains true that the more info LoW has, the better prepared we are to get the word out to the public.

However, it is also true that no one person, group, or project should ever dominate fandom. So, from this point of view, LoW is happy to be a drop in the ocean that remains, for the most part, amystery. Who could ever sufficiently explain how/why B&TB has touched people the way it has? (This is only further proof to me that a Being with more power than the "powers that be" has gotten Himself/Herself inextricably involved!)

2. When Cara Giaquinto and Barbara DeMarco first conceived the idea for LoW, they thought of it as an attempt to heal the rift in fandom, to give the fans something to celebrate together; to find the good we've found in the show and to share it with each other and those who need to see a glimmer of light in their lives. The collection of donations was only a by-product.

Our culture tells us that numbers are important. Throughout our years in school, high grades equal "success." Ratings tell networks what's a "success." What makes LoW a "success"? The fact that LoW has received $18,500 in the past year does not, in my estimation, make it successful. If we must use numbers, let's count the number of people who have discovered a way to dream or a reason to hope -- and have somehow shed light in the darkness of others' lives.

There — now I feel better . . . but I have too much respect for TT's readers to think that I've actually said anything they didn't already know!

Dorothy Sconzo, O.P., one of its leaders, wrote in June 1991 to Starlog and said:

...Beauty & the Beast may have been considered a failure by Nielsen's standards, but in the eyes of humanity, it was and is a great success. The "Lights of Winterfest Project" is one way in which B&B. just a TV show, brought help into the lives of those in need. All around the country. B&B fans are reaching out, donating money, food, clothing and their time. People have been greatly influenced by this program's first two years on the air. What bigger success could there be?

Over a thousand dollars was raised and divided between two New York shelters for the homeless. Another $500 went to a children's home — money that had been donated by fans of B&B. The project has also received many beautiful letters from those who have learned how to face crises in their own lives with courage, compassion and hope.

The "Lights of Winterfest Project" is gathering information on all the good works done in the name of B&B and encouraging those who have given and are giving of themselves in these ways. We have also been informing the public of B&B's tendency to evoke a spirit of generosity from its viewers. What other TV series or movie has ever done this so successfully?

We invite STARLOG's readers to inform us of the ways in which fans of B&B have "shared the light."