Saint Mary's College Dance Marathon (SMCDM) and the South Bend Cubs are joining forces to raise awareness and funds for Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. The game will take place this Thursday, Sept 3, at 7:05 pm at the Four Winds Field in South Bend. The South Bend Cubs will take on the Dayton Dragons.
Tickets are $9 and one-third of the proceeds go to Riley Hospital. Students and all other members of the community are welcome to attend this event. Tickets can be purchased through Wednesday in the Student Center Atrium.
Co-president Allison Lukomski said SMCDM has a goal to sell 150 tickets. Reaching this goal will allow a Riley patient to throw the opening pitch at the game.
Lukomski said SMCDM executive board's goal for this year is to raise awareness of Riley Hospital’s involvement with the children and how the hospital provides treatment to all kids regardless of their ability to pay.
She said the collaboration with the South Bend Cubs is a fun opportunity to bring the college and South Bend communities together as well as raise funds and awareness for Riley hospital.
“I want to see our community, at large, come together and help us unite in the fight for all children who are battling for their lives,” Lukomski said “Dance Marathon is all about fighting for a cause that is bigger than yourself, fighting for the continuation of hope that is given at Riley and fighting for the little faces I have seen, for their health and for their lives.
Lukomski said she wants Saint Mary's College, University of Notre Dame, Holy Cross College and the South Bend community to feel united while helping children who are fighting medical battles.
“Since DM was created here at Saint Mary’s, we have based our goals on the following: engaging our campus and community, supporting our Riley families and celebrating life’s victories and new hope,” she said.
Co-president Maranda Pennington said this is the first year the two organizations have collaborated and Dance Marathon has aspirations of making it an annual back to school event.
The collaboration with the South Bend Cubs will help to kickstart SMCDM's goal to raise $100,000 for the main event in March.
“We [raised] just over $90,000 last year, and are hoping to take that momentum and make this the best year possible for Dance Marathon," she said.
Pennington said the board not only wants to increase funds raised for the kids at Riley, but also the number of participants.
Letter-writing executive Hannah Monte said she has been involved with Dance Marathon for three years.
“Helping others has always been a true source of happiness in my life, and Dance Marathon has become a huge passion for me," she said. “Seeing the joy and happiness in the faces of Riley kids helped me realize the differences we make in their lives through this amazing organization."
Monte said this year she has a personal goal to raise $1,000 for the kids.
“Participation in SMCDM has been an amazing journey thus far and when looking into the future, I absolutely cannot wait to end SMCDM 2016 with sore legs form dancing and full hearts from giving,” Monte said.
“It is an awesome feeling that everyone is coming together as a community to do something special like this for the Riley kids and Dance Marathon community,” Monte said, “We cannot thank South Bend Cubs enough for partnering with us and showing their support.”
