Dance Marathon holds hype room as part of annual Riley Week

This week, Saint Mary’s College Dance Marathon (SMCDM) is working to publicize its support of Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. Riley Week, which began Sunday, features a series of events that engage the College community in supporting the hospital. Monday evening, members of the Saint Mary’s community gathered in Stapleton Lounge in Le Mans Hall for an hour of fundraising together.

“Riley Week is a week dedicated to raising money and having all these events to raise that awareness for the children down at Riley,” senior Clare Carragher, president of Dance Marathon, said. “It’s also a way for Dance Marathon to really spark and create this energy that is needed in our last workload before the marathon actually hits.”

The week also serves as a time for the organization to push fundraising for the hospital.

“We want to emphasize our cause’s connection on campus,” said Landis Collins, junior and Dance Marathon vice president.

Monday evening’s event, a hype room, consisted of several fundraising challenges for those in attendance. While upbeat music played, participants enjoyed refreshments as they were tasked with requesting donations in various ways, such as asking someone with a February birthday to donate.

“It’s a one-hour hype room to get all the committees together and push ourselves to see what we can do,” Carragher said.

At the end of the event, senior and Dance Marathon vice president Anna Zappa announced Monday’s fundraising efforts had generated more than $2,300.

Sunday’s programming consisted of a dinner for Riley families and a Mass during which the collection was donated to the hospital.

One Riley Week event will make particular use of Dance Marathon’s access to the tri-campus community, Collins said.

“Thursday night, we have Search for a Star, which will be at Notre Dame,” Collins said. “It’s like a talent show.”

The talent show will be open to students performing a variety of acts, including music, comedy and dance, Carragher said.

“The winner of the Search for a Star competition on Thursday gets to come perform at the marathon,” Zappa said.

Dance Marathon will also have a table set up at Friday’s Student Health Fair in the Angela Athletic Facility, at which there will be a blood drive.

“We’re doing blood drive sign ups, and for every single person that donates blood, $1 will be donated to Dance Marathon,” Carragher said.

Another order of the popular EMX sweatshirts will also be placed in honor of Riley Week.

“Every day this week, we have tabling for EMX sweatshirts and Dance Marathon registration as well as a silent auction in the student center,” Collins said. “You can write down a bid for our different themed baskets.”

While this variety of events will continue to occur throughout the week, the mission of the week remains constant — preparation for the actual event, which will take place April 4.

“We want to do everything we can to create awareness and educate our community not only on what Dance Marathon is, but what Riley Hospital [for Children] is,” Carragher said. “That’s what Riley Week is.”