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Bradley dances the night away

Originally published November 12, 2010

Dance Marathon is still grooving 10 years and $330,000 later.

The philanthropy’s annual event was Friday.

“Dance Marathon is one of Bradley’s biggest all-school philanthropies,” Dance Marathon President Staci Tons said. “For the event, we raise money for the Children’s Hospital of Illinois.”

The event encourages students to raise money throughout the year.

“We raise money all year with canning dates and fundraisers such as Cow Patty Bingo,” junior accounting major Olivia Davis said. “We had over 60 dancers participate in helping us to raise thousands of dollars this year.”

While standing on their feet for 13 hours, participants still enjoy music and other entertainment, Tons said.

“Participants stay on their feet for the whole marathon so they can feel the pain the kids have to go through each and every day at the hospital,” she said. “Throughout the event, there is lots of entertainment, music, food and much more. The highlight of the event is when families from the hospital actually come to the marathon and speak about their experiences in the hospital.”

This year, Dance Marathon raised over $16,000, Tons said.

“In the past 10 years we’ve raised a grand total of over $330,000,” she said. “This year we had over 60 participants, and lots of other students stopped by to visit.”

Participating in Dance Marathon is always a fun experience, senior education major Roxanne Geier said.

“This was my second year participating in Dance Marathon and I loved it,” she said. “Last year I was the second place fundraiser with $420 raised, so I set the bar higher this year with a goal of $600. I ended up raising over $1,000 in the end. It was a fun experience and I am so proud of myself.”

Junior dietetics major Melissa Czerwinski said she agreed.

“I was on a team for my service fraternity in Dance Marathon. It was a lot of fun and it didn’t even feel like you were being forced to stand until really late in the night,” she said. “They had activities planned for us for most of it and the free food definitely helped.”

Junior secondary education major Jake Ewing said he’d recommend Dance Marathon to anyone.

“It’s hard to prepare with classes the day of the event, but you try to work ahead and get as much sleep as possible the night before,” he said. “During the marathon you being to wonder why you’re doing it, but then you see the faces of the kids and families that are helped by your hard work and that makes it worth it. The tiredness and pain seem to ease away. Standing up all night is nothing compared to what some of these families and kids had to go through.”

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