The second annual Dance Marathon at Saint Mary's was a huge success, event organizers said, raising almost $50,000 amid swing, techno and hip-hop tunes. The event, which benefited Riley's Hospital for Children was held Saturday night in the Angela Athletic Center.
Fundraising and alumni relations chair Sarah Voss was very proud of the night's activities, calling them an "absolute success, more than we could've ever dreamed for." The Dance Marathon raised $47,129.60, Voss said, which more than doubled last year's total.
After 12 hours of continuous dancing, organizers revealed the total amount of money that was collected. The co-president of the Dance Marathon, Pauline Kistka, said her fellow organizers displayed each figure in the grand total by taking off their sweaters and revealing underneath a t-shirt with a number on it. The Dance Marathon increased it's fundraising total by around $26,000, she said.
Kistka also described the event as a success, although approximately one fourth of the dancers left throughout the night. A lot of people had to leave early but at one point there were about 216 people in attendance, Kistka said.
They would've wanted to see more dancers and less people yielding to exhaustion, but the important part of the night was to raise money for the hospital, she said. Organizers were surprised that some dancers didn't show up but "a lot of people who were there wanted to be there," Kistka said, referring to the enthusiasm and commitment of the dancers who did not sit down during the night.
"I had so much fun," sophomore Libby Singelyn said. "The entertainment committee did a great job of providing everyone with enough to do all night long."
The organizers were only trying to beat last year's goal, and they had no idea they would double last year's funds, Kistka said.
"It's a really good feeling," she said.
She said organizers wanted to give their feet a day of rest before they started planning next year's marathon. Kistka also said they would avoid setting a monetary goal in the future, because they don't want to focus solely on the money.
They want to try to do some more year-round fundraising to have a more consistent inflow of funds, but there is no set goal, she said. But bringing the total donations up every year will continue to be the team's main objective.
