Club proceeds will support West Virginia flood relief

Lap dances at a West Virginia strip club will help pay for flood relief.

The Blue Parrot Cabaret club in Morgantown is offering the lap dances for charity from Wednesday through Saturday. The club plans to donate portions of the proceeds for flood relief efforts in hard-hit southern West Virginia.

The lap dances cost $20 per song, with payments accepted by cash or credit card. Club co-owner John Baron said in a telephone interview Tuesday the club hasn’t determined yet which charity will get the money.

Baron said reaction to the promotion so far has been positive. The club also will accept donations from anyone who doesn’t want the lap dance.

Floods in late June killed at least 23 people in West Virginia. Baron said a friend’s mother lives in Greenbrier County, where 15 people died.

Baron said the floods triggered memories of the November 1985 floods that remain the state’s costliest natural disaster, with more than $570 million in damage and 47 dead.

“These are the people of our state. We want to help them,” Baron said. “We feel that the people down in the southern part of the state need all the help they can get.”

In the past the club has conducted holiday food and toy collections for local charities.

“There are probably a lot of people in the state who may not necessarily like what we do, but at the end of the day, we are all West Virginians,” Baron said. “And we’re going to help everyone we can.”