Creighton held its fourth annual Dance Marathon on Saturday to raise money and awareness for Children’s Miracle Network. The event raised $83,578.18 in total, and all of the funds will be donated to Omaha Children’s Hospital.  

The year-long fundraising efforts of Creighton’s Dance Marathon program culminated in a 12-hour celebration that took place from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the Skutt Ballroom. The goal of the event was to stay on your feet for the entire 12 hours. Sponsored by the Inter-Fraternity and Panhellenic Councils, Dance Marathon offered food, activities, games, performances from other student organizations and, of course, dancing. Throughout the event, the Miracle Families told their inspirational stories to the participants.

There were 14 Miracle Families involved in the event this year. Matt Lewis, 16, has participated in Creighton’s Dance Marathon all four years. “It’s really important for kids in this generation of college age to know that they can make a difference,” said Lewis’s mother, Tracy. Matt was diagnosed with Severe Crohn’s Disease at a young age and is now in remission. He said his favorite part of Dance Marathon was meeting with the fraternities. This was his second year being sponsored by Phi Delta Theta.

Kelsey Holman, College of Nursing junior and the Family Relations Executive for Dance Marathon, said, “Each one of [the families] just has such a unique and cool story and it just inspires me to wake up every day and live every day to the fullest because that’s what they do.”

“I really just want to give these kids a platform to speak their truth, get their stories out, and also just to let them be kids again,” said College of Arts and Sciences junior Meredith Lloyd, who is VP of Mission and Service for the Panhellenic Council (PHC) and the Internal Chair for Dance Marathon.

“The families’ stories are really impactful,” said College of Arts and Sciences junior Dannah Shurling, VP of Public Relations for PHC. While Shurling agreed it is a long event, she added that “when you hear the stories of the families, it makes it all worth it, because that’s why we’re here. It’s for the kids.”

This year’s event surpassed its $75,000 goal and raised attendance from last year. Other fundraising events leading up to the big day included selling donuts on the Mall, percentage nights at restaurants like Panera and dollar days where students were encouraged to Venmo $1 to Creighton’s Dance Marathon.

“In terms of the actual event, we’ve really seen the numbers falling in participation,” Lloyd said. “Overall, we wanted the kids to just really meet the Creighton community and our goal was to get everyone to show up and to make the event something that’s worthwhile.”

According to Lloyd, 902 people were signed up for the event. “On average, we had more people staying throughout the whole day than previous years,” said College of Arts and Sciences senior Austin Tapuro, VP of Mission and Service for the Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) and the External Chair for Dance Marathon.

To raise attendance this year, Lloyd and Tapuro said that they went to chapter meetings to emphasize the importance of the event. “In general, to fundraise, we really just reached out to the chapters and put an emphasis on the fact that these kids do mean the world to us,” Lloyd said. “And every dollar counts.”