Paige Spears, senior and morale executive, said the event — during which participants stay on their feet for twelve hours — raised a record-breaking amount and still has to account for last-minute donations.
“This year, being on stage watching the hundreds of people dancing like nobody is watching for such an amazing hospital ... my heart has never felt more full,” Spears said in an email.
According to Spears, this year's event raised about $25,000 more than last year's, thanks to the executive committee for Dance Marathon.
“The 16 people on the executive committee with me are easily what contributed to our gain,” Spears said. “These women have a passion people wanted to either enhance or emulate.”
Spears said serving as a morale executive enabled her to boost the energy and spirit of the Marathon.
“I assisted those lovely ladies just with an immense amount of enthusiasm and positivity,” Spears said. ‘It's very easy for your feet to hurt, legs to shake and your mind to just want to go home, but one day of standing for 12 hours is nothing compared to what those children at Riley go through.”
Dancing for just one day lends both financial and emotional support to patients and medical staff at Riley Hospital for Children, Spears said.
“It is a way to take a self-centric time of young adult's life — college — and put their ends in a compassionate direction,” Spears said. “[Dance Marathon] is a movement full of nothing but, love, support, hope, happiness and way too much fun. I feel that it is important for all these qualities to be more present in the world.”
To further this mission and movement, Spears said committee members and executives try to accomplish more than raising money.
“We really focused on becoming a movement, more than a philanthropy,” Spears said. “We aren't just asking people for money. We are showing every child at Riley Hospital for Children how many people support them and realize how strong they are. I can't imagine what those children go through, but if they ever need an extra push of strength and hope, they know Saint Mary's Dance Marathon believes in them and knows they can get through it.”