The Davis Dance Marathon was held on Feb. 22 in the ARC Ballroom from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. The event raised more than $4,000, which will be donated to the UC Davis Children’s Hospital in Sacramento.
Although the benefit did not reach its fundraising goal of $10,000, Davis Dance Marathon Committee member Alagu Chidambaram said she and her fellow committee members hope to raise more in the next month.
“The Donor Drive page is still open for a month so people can still collect donations,” Chidambaram said. “All of that still goes towards our total, so we definitely want to see [the total] increase.”
According to Michelle Thompson, associate director of development for the Children’s Miracle Network at the UC Davis Children’s Hospital, donations are still being accepted until March 24 at 6 p.m.
Thompson said the money raised will go towards therapy and equipment to help the children.
“It helps support life-changing research, child life programs such as art and music therapy and much needed equipment for the hospital to save and improve as many lives as possible,” Thompson said.
Although attendance at the marathon was lower than last year, committee member Emily Summerlin was pleased with the outcome of the event.
“We put on a great event, we just didn’t have as great a turnout as we would have wanted,” Summerlin said. “We had a solid group of dedicated dancers who stayed until the end.”
Chidambaram echoed Summerlin’s thoughts and said event logistics had no real complications.
“Everything ran smoothly as far as the organization side of it,” Chidambaram said. “It all ran really well. About 150 people attended, which is not as much as last year, but it was probably due to conflicting schedules.”
There were performances from several campus groups and items were raffled throughout the night.
“All the entertainment went really well,” Chidambaram said. “All the bands were incredible and it was really nice to see all the different talent that is on campus. We gave away Wal-Mart gift cards, a toaster oven, hospital related T-shirts and bags. Ubisoft gave away two gift baskets — one was “Assassins’ Creed,” and one was “Just Dance.”
According to Chidambaram, the marathon had overwhelming volunteer support. “We had a lot of volunteers,” Chidambaram said. “The main organizations that volunteered were Operation Smile, Delta Epsilon Mu and Delta Sigma Pi. They were incredible; they were amazing.”
Summerlin appreciated the help of the marathon’s sponsors.
“We have a lot of food, entertainment and music sponsors backing us and we are so thankful for all of them,” Summerlin said.
The Davis Dance Marathon Committee will start planning for next year’s event during Spring Quarter. It is looking for event volunteers and for people to join the committee itself, for several committee members are graduating, according to Chidambaram and Summerlin.
“We are so proud of our fundraiser and we can’t wait to welcome new Aggies to the DDM family for next year’s planning,” Summerlin said.
The website to donate is helpmakemiracles.org/event/DavisDM/.
— Jordyn May
