Despite a slow start this year due to confusion about beneficiaries, Dance Marathon showed Monday night that it still is on beat.
Dancers at the meeting in Fisk Hall picked up bibs and cans, learned about DM’s beneficiary and met the 2003 emcees. Some students stopped by a table to learn about a special rebate DM is offering for participants who sign up for the Associated Student Government Spring Break trip to Acapulco, Mexico.
To encourage dancers to sign up for the trip to Acapulco, DM will take $15 to $20 off the total amount of money they must raise, said Zack Hall, DM co-chairman.
“The hope is that people who will sign up for the trip anyway will sign up under DM, and we can put the money back into the charity,” said Hall, a Communication senior.
DM officers can offer participants a rebate because STS Travel, the agency contracted for the trip, gives discounts for buying trips in bulk, said Joel Richlin, ASG public relations chairman.
A group that gets 10 people to sign up earns a rebate of $400; if 20 people sign up, the rebate is $900. Because the travel agency does not have a contract with student groups, it will write rebate checks to ASG, which then will transfer the money to the groups, Richlin said.
DM is not the only group ASG has told about the rebate deal, Richlin said. He alerted all ASG-recognized groups, fraternities and sororities, and students in university housing.
ASG does not directly benefit from student groups who bring in more travelers under the rebate plan, Richlin said, but more participants might lead to better deals for later trips.
“Having more people go is good for ASG, good for the school and definitely good for future years,” said Richlin, a Weinberg senior.
Also during the meeting Dancer Relations Committee co-chairman Bill Farmer and Nikhil Waingankar clarified what went wrong with the group’s beneficiary.
The original beneficiary was Midtown Educational Foundation, but DM made the separation to avoid controversy about the foundation’s religious affiliations. Instead, the money DM raises will go to the Chicago Urban Youth Scholarship Fund, which will benefit the same students but not go directly to Midtown.
The secondary beneficiary, umbrella group Evanston Community Foundation, will receive 7.5 percent of the proceeds.
During the meeting Jim Palos, an alumnus of both Midtown and Northwestern, spoke to students about the impact their involvement would have on the lives of Chicago youth.
“I wanted to come tonight to thank you, because I think each of you is a hero,” said Palos, Kellogg ’89.
At Monday’s meeting, DM organizers also passed out a list of fund-raising ideas, which dancer Yasmine Baktash said she appreciated.
“We’ve been trying to brainstorm for the last couple of weeks, so (the list) was really helpful,” said Baktash, a Music and Weinberg freshman.
Dancers who did not attend the meeting can pick up their bibs and cans in the DM office in Norris between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
