Although the 2002 Dance Marathon is still 178 days away, the events steering committee has already begun getting people involved.
Last night was the second of two informational meetings that have been held this month with the goal of getting the word out to students who have never been involved in the event before.
Dance Marathon is a yearly event, which is considered to be the Universities largest philanthropy. All money raised goes toward the Children’s Miracle Network, an organization for children The steering committee, or students involved in planning the event, are the members who ran the meeting discussed the planning that goes into putting on the event as well as how much money past events have made and how many people have been involved.
“It’s basically for anybody who hasn’t had experience in Dance Marathon before,” said Abbey Erford, dancer relations chair. “Sometimes they feel like you have to be in a sorority, fraternity or organization to be involved, but that’s not really the case.”
About 15 people attended the informational meeting, but Erford said she was encouraged that even that many showed up.
“Any little bit helps,” she said. “Any time you can bring in 10 or 12 people and they tell their friends, that’s something.”
Most of the people who attended last night’s meeting already had an understanding of what Dance Marathon was, but were there to get more knowledge of what was involved with the planning.
“Last year I saw it for the first time,” said Robert Rowland, a senior. “I saw how much fun it was and wanted to look into it more.”
“I knew a lot went into planning it,” said Kimberly Keckler, sophomore. “All you see is the people standing out there and you don’t see the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on.”
Keckler, who watched a lot of the event on television from her dorm last year, said she is looking forward to being a part of this year’s Dance Marathon.
“I’m really excited,” she said. “As soon as I got to school (this semester) I was talking to my roommate about it and said we had to get involved.”
Each of the dancers and moralers involved with Dance Marathon are expected to raise $350 dollars in donations. The event last year raised over $270,000.
“That’s a boat load of money for kids who need it. If I can help by putting $350 in their hands, that’s good,” she said.
