Mickey Huang was 48 and getting bored with just going to the gym—he wanted to challenge himself physically.
"I guess it was a kind of mid-life crisis," he said this spring at age 50.
"I'm not a runner and couldn't muster the motivation for myself or my friends to take up tennis or ballroom dancing, two other [activities] that I considered.
"That summer, I was working really long hours and looking for ways to enrich my life apart from my job. I looked into volunteer opportunities at both Howard Brown Health Center and the Art Institute of Chicago. But before any of those things came together, I happened to meet three Chicago Spirit Brigade (CSB) cheerleaders at Sidetrack. It was a Sunday after one of their practices and I remember being absolutely mesmerized as they described what they did. This seemed like the perfect solution: A way to challenge myself physically and an opportunity to do some volunteer work, giving back to organizations which I felt served MY community."
Huang, who lives in the Buena Park neighborhood and is the marketing manager for General Tours World Traveler, is now in his third year on the Spirit Brigade. He is a performing member and the "flyer" on the cheer squad. Plus, he assists the CSB Board and managers as a liaison to the community, handling communications with current and potential beneficiaries, reviewing invitations for appearances, coordinating with event organizers prior to a performance, writing press releases and updates to the group's fans, etc.
"It's difficult to isolate a single favorite [CSB] memory," Huang said. "I guess I would have to say marching in [the] Pride [Parade in] 2009. The weather that year was near-perfect; it was my first time to ever march in the Chicago Pride Parade, and that was the first year that the Nettelhorst School ever marched. Prior to hitting the parade route, we went over to meet with their group, did a bit of stunting for them and had a mini photo-session with the students and parents. It was a pretty inspiring experience. I also remember being overwhelmed by the crowd's generosity. Overall, 2009 was a record-breaking year for CSB, the first time we broke the $10,000 mark in funds raised-and-given-away to our beneficiaries. Along the parade route, specifically, I recall being surprised by how generous some people were, dropping $5s, $10s and $20s into our Spirit Buckets for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago."
CSB has three squads: cheer, dance and drill. The group practices every Sunday afternoon at the Fitness Formula Club at Pine Grove and Waveland in Lake View.
The Cheer squad practices from 1-5 p.m. The Dance & Drill squads practice anywhere from two to four hours during the same time-window. "We'll practice as individual squads, then gather together for an All-Brigade Circle—to share news, updates, encouragement, etc., and to practice our all-squad routine," Huang said. "For me, these practices are physically challenging and personally fulfilling. I came to the squad with no cheer experience and have been taught a lot over the past two and a half years. I can unequivocally state that I have a great deal of respect and affection for every single one of my teammates, and how often can one say that about a group. No matter how physically tough and occasionally frustrating a practice might be, this is a great group of people to hang out with for four hours every Sunday."
CSB has 23 cheerleaders, eight dancers and three members on its drill team. Huang said CSB is about 65 percent LGBT. CSB members range in age from 22 to 51, and there are 12 women and 22 men. Members live across the Chicago area, Huang said. CSB features a variety of ethnicities, including a couple members of Mexican heritage who just moved to Chicago from Texas this year; a German national on the squad; and a couple of Filipinos. Huang is Chinese, and the crew also features several African Americans; a woman from the Ukraine; and a gay man who has two adopted kids with his partner.
"Our drill squad consists of two returning members and a new performer who has amazed us all with how quickly he's picked up drill flags," Huang said. "Our dancers all have such strong distinctive personalities and terrific stage presence; the audience is going to love them! On the Cheer side, we have some amazing new women on the squad who are able to both 'fly' and 'base;' we call them our 'Hybrids.' Even those who joined [the CSB] with no cheer experience have developed incredible skills over the past few months.
"There seems to be a greater diversity among our performing members this year in terms of prior performing experience, age-range and gender. Also, I'm really struck by the level of commitment and involvement, especially by some of our first-year members. Our 'All-Brigade Circle,' which we have at every practice, has become a wonderful forum, and I sense that everybody is quite comfortable speaking with a great deal of openness and honesty. This has made us, despite our very diverse personalities, a really cohesive performing unit and has generated a lot of good feedback which our managers have incorporated into their planning."
Huang said the 2011 routine is an all-brigade extravaganza much more than in past years, where Cheer, Dance and Drill each presented their own unique choreographed segments.
"For the first time ever, we have our drill team twirling their flags while [those members] are up in the air in cheer stunts. It's pretty impressive," Huang said.
The team's 2011 goal is to surpass $10,000 to raise and donate to its beneficiaries. CSB's key fundraising beneficiaries this year include the Lesbian Community Care Project, Vital Bridges, A Special Wish Foundation, Lakeview Pantry, Families' & Children's AIDS Network, and Prevent Blindness America. In addition, CSB will be appearing at several charitable events, such as, the American Cancer Society Walk & Roll, Girls on the Run, Ride for AIDS, and the Walk to End Alzheimer's.
CSB introduced a "Plus 25%" matching program this year, drawing upon their Spread the Cheer fund. Thus, CSB now donates to their beneficiaries 125 percent of every dollar raised at performances.
"We're able to do this thanks to a successful event we hosted last September: the first-ever "Starry Night" fundraiser, which generated nearly $5,000 for the group's Spread the Cheer fund, enough of a cushion to guarantee the "Plus 25%" match for at least two years.
A second-annual Starry Night is scheduled for Aug. 27.
"Eventually, we would love to grow the Spread the Cheer fund to the point where we could guarantee 100 percent matching donations to our beneficiaries," Huang said.
CSB also established a community partnership with The Call in Andersonville, and its owners, Michael Hogan and Mike Ferrari, have invited the CSB to come in once a month to raise money on behalf of their beneficiaries. CSB members staff the door, perform on stage, chat with patrons and collect $5 suggested donations. "This partnership has been very effective," Huang said.
CSB again will be performing at Chicago Force home football games, as well as Andersonville's MidSommarfest, PrideFest, Pride Parade, Market Days, Halloween on Halsted, Walk to End Alzheimer's, Ride for AIDS and more.
CSB performed in May at the opening of the Out in Chicago exhibit at the Chicago History Museum, and the group has been invited to participate in Columbus Pride in Ohio to raise money on behalf of Stonewall Columbus. "Although this takes us beyond our usual Chicago stomping grounds, it's an opportunity to continue our fundraising mission for non-profit organizations. In addition, we could be planting the seeds which might one day result in a similar cheer-based fundraising organization in Columbus," Huang said.
