On Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the fieldhouse of the Angela Athletic and Wellness Complex, Dance Marathon held their 19th annual Marathon Day for Riley Children’s Health hospital. The day was led up to by events throughout the year to help encourage students to participate in Marathon Day and donate to the cause.
Senior Katelyn Clifford, president of Dance Marathon, discussed donations and how they help facilitate and further support the expenses that families often have.
“All the money that we raised today and throughout the whole entire year goes directly to supporting the children and the families down at the hospital ... It helps with finding illnesses and transportation for families,” Clifford said.
Dance Marathon works with the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals to help provide donations to the closest hospitals, including Riley Children’s Health. Saint Mary’s College is one of more than 400 colleges throughout the United States and Canada that participate in the year-round, student-led fundraiser.
“We are part of a nationwide organization called Miracle Network, and it's built up of different colleges, universities and some high schools that are all just working towards the one goal of raising money for children and pediatric illness,” Clifford stated.
Events that led up to the day included Riley Week from February 9 to February 15 which helped create donations for children and families at the hospital. The event program included collaborations with numerous Saint Mary’s clubs and organizations such as Off the Avenue and Morgan’s Message.
Senior Sheridan Riva, an executive member of the Corporate Resources Board, described it as “a big push week, where every day we have smaller events where we try to connect the students at Saint Mary's to register for Dance Marathon … It also is just a lot of community building with Dance Marathon and the people already involved.”
There were a total of 12 committees in the organization that helped to arrange event and activities from dancing to community connections. Two of these committees, letter writing and Riley family, aim to directly impact the families and children connected to the marathon.
“We create letters to go to the families at Riley ... The Riley family committee does all the work with the families that have been talking today, and they just get that coordinated. Along with the time that they're going to come and what they're going to say just so we can share their stories,” Clifford said.
Participants were able to register for the event as dancers throughout the 12 hour event, representing the typical shift a nurse has. Booths, food and activities were provided, including merch, hair tinsel, tattoos, "Pie the Exec", letter writing, merchandise and alumni tables. A photo booth, bouncy house area, haircuts and rave party were also provided at the event.
A variety of appearances were made throughout the event, including Saint Mary’s Dance Team and Saint Mary’s Cheer Team. Other features included Fr. Pete McCormick’s opening prayer, Harmonia A Cappella, Notre Dame's Pom Squad, Bagpipe Band, Cheer Team and the leprechaun.
Attendees mentioned how the most important aspect of the event was hearing Riley families’ stories and seeing who they were impacting. It pushed them, along with other activities, throughout the 12-hour duration.
Sophomore Grace Kingsbury hoped that everyone who attended the marathon were able to “hear all of the families' stories and raise money as a community.”
Near the end of the event, the organizers announced they had successfully raised $149,387 over the course of the marathon. The event concluded with a closing circle named ‘the circle of hope’ for participants to take in the moment and the overall event.
Clifford hoped that participants understood the importance of a single donation and how it could impact someone’s life. Clifford also hoped the marathon was able to help students realize what the families goes through on a daily basis and how they can contribute to the larger picture.
“Any single amount or any donation that we get truly does make a difference. I want everyone to know that they are making a difference in somebody's life to help make the children live a happy and healthy life,” Clifford said.
