On March 13, USF St. Petersburg hosted its inaugural Dance Marathon. The event raised money for All Children’s Hospital and included more than 100 participants from USF St. Petersburg and the public.
At the event, the total amount raised was $6,776.14, tripling the original goal of $2,015.
Teri Deardorff, the chair of fundraising for Dance Marathon, said she cried when she learned of the grand total minutes before it was revealed to the participants.
“I was just so excited, and I couldn’t wait to share it with everyone else,” said Deardorff.
As a team, the orientation leaders raised the most money, winning a pizza party for their team. The top individual fundraisers were Bobbie Crouch, Alyssa Winston and Nicole Messina. They got to choose between a longboard and two sets of cruise tickets.
Students were not the only ones to participate in fundraising. Zac Oppenheim of campus recreation participated by chopping off an inch of his hair for every $20 donated to his personal Dance Marathon account.
Two families who use All Children’s services, the Cole and Hill families, attended the event. They shared with participants how the Children’s Miracle Network has helped their children. The parents of the children were even graduates of USFSP.
Besides the in-person testimonies, Dance Marathon showed videos of other children who benefitted from the Children’s Miracle Network.
During all testimonies, participants were asked to take a knee in honor of the sick child.
To keep participant’s energy up during the nine-hour marathon, food from Chipotle and IHOP was provided along with snacks throughout the night.
A Morale team also taught all participants a dance during the night. At the end of the night they put the entire dance together and recorded for memory of the night.
“I am very proud of my team for all of their hard work, without which the event would not have been possible,” said Paige McDaniel, Dance Marathon president. “I am thankful for the support that USF St. Pete showed Dance Marathon and look forward to next year’s Dance Marathon.”
