Two years ago Raymond Asher, vice president of Friends for Steven, spoke to a crowd of more than 500 Dance Marathon participants only a few hours before the end of the 30-hour groove fest.

He looked out at the sea of sweaty bodies and told the dancers: “My life sucks. But for the last few hours, you all have made me feel very, very good.”

Friends for Steven, a nonprofit pediatric foundation that funds cancer research, received more than $380,000 in 2002 from DM. The organization, an affiliate of Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, grew significantly as a result of the donations.

Asher said speaking to the dancers and organizers and receiving donations from the philanthropy event marked one of the greatest and “most inspiring” experiences of his life.

“Those young people who were so committed to what they were doing — that made me feel so great,” said Asher, an attorney and the parent of a 7-year-old who has cancer. “That (donation) really made me motivated to do more. It’s a rare thing to bring in that amount of money and not do much of the work ourselves.”

And DM’s donation helped the organization grow substantially, Asher said.

“We’re spread thin,” he said. “And it’s frustrating as a parent of a cancer patient that there’s so little available for research funds.”

Because the organization is composed mostly of parents with jobs and other time commitments, and because national funding is limited, Friends for Steven benefits substantially from any financial assistance, Asher said.

The organization used its DM money to help sponsor pediatric cancer research at Children’s Memorial Hospital — specifically research for one of the most common forms of children’s cancer, neuroblastoma.

Now, two years later, the organization continues to grow. Friends for Steven now has a junior board, made up of young adult volunteers. In addition, several celebrities and athletes have joined the cause. The group’s Board of Directors now includes Richard Roeper, the famed movie critic from “Ebert and Roeper.”

Being the DM beneficiary also gave Friends for Steven more recognition, Asher said.

“It obviously gave us a lot of press,” he said. “It gave us a greater ability to market ourselves and continue on. Most organizations like ours have a small life expectancy.”

The seven-year-old organization has raised a total of $1 million for pediatric cancer research, and Asher said DM helped the group achieve that goal.

“I wouldn’t be able to say we raised this much money if it weren’t for DM,” Asher said. “We are not just surviving — we are still going strong and we’ve grown dramatically. We’re proud of that.”

Each year DM raises about $400,000 and donates the majority of the proceeds to a local social service organization such as Friends for Steven.

Last year the Midtown Educational Foundation, an organization that helps inner-city kids excel in school and strengthen character, received the majority of DM’s proceeds. The money went to scholarships for eighth-graders who started high school this year. The organization will give two four-year scholarships every year for the next four years, each worth about $2,000.

“The funds are allowing kids to go to schools they wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise,” said Jody Madler, director of major gifts for the organization. “The funds are really brightening their futures.”

The scholarships help students get into better high schools that, in turn, will make them more competitive candidates for college. The organization serves about 1,000 students each year in fourth through 12th grades.

The organization motivates them not only in academics but also in life, so “they get a sense of what it means to excel on all fronts as a human being,” said Terry Sullivan, associate director of the Midtown Educational Foundation.

Sullivan said the DM experience “was thrilling — mostly because it allowed us to help more really deserving kids in Chicago.”