If you live on campus or walk across Landis on your morning commute, you probably saw a huge crowd of people coordinating blue shirts around a ginormous gong the other morning. While I know this group of students may seem annoying and overly excited, they have a much bigger cause than the name suggests.
What is Dance Marathon?
Dance Marathon (DM) is a fundraising program that raises awareness and funds for the Children’s Miracle Network. Through this club, they run a donor drive to collect funds mainly for local children’s hospitals. At FSU, they raise money for the UF Shands Children’s Hospital, Tallahassee Memorial Hospital (TMH), and the FSU College of Medicine.
Many of us are lucky never to experience or receive this level of care, where we see the little balloon logo on the hospital’s toys and tools. However, there are several families out there whose child is still alive because the money raised funds new research, toys, transportation, medical tools, medicines, expansions, and much more.
This charity provides for those who are unable to support their child while they go through a traumatic, life-altering diagnosis. Thanks to this charity, many families get to stay together with their child and provide them with optimal care.
Dance Marathon at FSU
Dance Marathon at FSU keeps the fundraising portion fun. The club organizes three major events throughout the school year. The first was at the beginning of November, the people you saw on Landis; this was “Statement Day.”
“Statement Day” lasts 26.2 hours, and it’s two days of fundraising. The organization creates games, merch, and has fun supporting our cause. Similarly, “Leave Your Legacy,” which is at the beginning of February, does about the same thing. These are the two major pushes to reach the individual goals of the club members and fundraise as much as they can together.
The final major event is the namesake of the club, “Dance Marathon.” This event is split between a 10-hour shift and a 24-hour shift. Now it depends on your role within the club: if you’re an external organization (the dancers, sororities, fraternities, etc.), you dance for either 10 or 24 hours, but if you’re internal, then you dance both shifts.
Dance is a light word to describe what is done during the event. There are live bands, competitions, merchandise, magic shows, games, some dancing, and even a hypnotist. This is the main event and what they fundraise for. It’s a long, exhausting day, but you get to meet some of those kids whose lives these funds have changed and see the bigger picture of your tiredness.
Some things happen at all these events that are crucial to the club: the line dance, yes, but more importantly, the miracle stories. Either a member of the club or the child and family themselves will tell their story and how Dance Marathon and Children’s Miracle Network gave them a miracle. They’re real tearjerkers, but they communicate to the club that there’s a reason behind all this.
Oh! How could I forget the gong? There’s a tradition started by an avid FSU fan who received life-changing care thanks to DM. Unfortunately, he passed away, so we carry on his legacy by doing his favorite thing, which is “hit the gong.”
You don’t need to give a donation, be a part of the team, or wait until someone grabs you to hit the gong. For DM, hearing that gong represents the heartbeat of another child going on to live another day; it’s the heartbeat of DM.
What Can I Do?
If this charity has struck a chord with you, I suggest doing more research and reading some miracle stories, but if you really want to get involved or help, there are plenty of ways!
You can always join the club; every semester, they open more positions, or you can sign up to be a dancer and work a shift. These experiences are life-changing and remind us how appreciative we should be to have healthy bodies, so use them for good!
Another way you can support DM is by donating. You can find their donation pages by searching Dance Marathon FSU on Instagram or Google. They take any donation, and any amount helps, even 50 cents. If ten people donated just 50 cents, the kids would have $5 for toys or treatment. If neither of these things screams out to you, you can always repost the stories that the organizations put on their page and spread awareness about this charity.
DM is more than just fundraising and asking for money. It’s about dancing for kids who can’t.
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