Dance Marathon participation is the highest it’s ever been, with more that 900 students currently dancing in the tent on Norris University Center lawn, DM public relations co-chair Erin Gray said.
“It’s really great to see,” Gray said. “We are really happy with those numbers.”
DM has raised $25,180 so far, the DM finance committee announced at approximately 1 a.m. Saturday.
More than 1,200 dancers registered for Dance Marathon in the fall, and the participant total means that at least 75 percent of the students who registered made it to DM.
Earlier in the evening, DM promotion and dancer relations member sophomore Jerry Luo said he thought there were more dancers – and perhaps better fundraising – than in 2010.
“The tent just looks more full,” Luo said. “And that’s a good thing.”
The event this year will raise money for The Children’s Heart Foundation and the Evanston Community Foundation.
NUDM public relations committee member Kameron Dodge, who is working on the security sub-committee this weekend, said registration for the event “went really well.”
“Everybody’s really excited,” the SESP sophomore said. “We’re feeding off the dancers’ energy.”
Betsy Peterson, who co-founded CHF with her husband Steve in 1996, said she is “in awe” of the student participants.
“We’re really grateful that they saw us as worthy of being beneficiaries for the second time,” Peterson said. CHF also received funds from NUDM in 1999.
“This year it’s beyond words,” Peterson said.
Megan Van Pelt, national president of CHF, said she has also been impressed by NUDM’s organized way of running the event.
“What differentiates Northwestern is they take time to interview a lot of different charities,” she said, noting that CHF is only the third organization that’s been chosen twice. “It’s a very thoughtful process.”
The Petersons started their foundation after losing their son, Sam, to heart disease in 1995. He was eight years old at the time.
“Our son would have just graduated from college,” Betsy Peterson said of watching NUDM. “It’s nice to see what he would have been like. He’d be one of those boys.”
With the help of The Foundation, Betsy Peterson assembled a team to publish a book called “It’s My Heart.” The book is free and can be viewed in its entirety for free on the CHF website. Its purpose was to explain several different heart defects in more detail than pamphlets, but in simpler terms than in medical journals.
A portion of the funds DM raises this year for CHF will contribute to making a second edition of this book.
Van Pelt and her husband, Ryan, became involved in the Foundation after their son Jack, now 13, was released from the hospital after he was first born. Jack had a congenital heart defect Megan describes as his heart forming backwards.
She will speak to DM dancers at 1:30 a.m. Jack will not be present for that because it’s past his bedtime.
Ryan Van Pelt said it’s fun to see the event unfold.
“It’s a special group of kids,” he said. “They have a lot of energy and have fun doing it.”
Weinberg junior Michelle Caley said she has a plan of how she’ll get through the next 30 hours. “It sounds lame, but the first thing is friends,” she said. “The second is that I have a great dance partner. And a friend is bringing me Red Mango and buffalo wings.Betsy and Steve Peterson said they won’t be at the event the whole time. “We’ll stay as long as we can stay awake,” Steve joked.
As rain pounded the Northwestern University Dance Marathon tent outside Norris University Center, hundreds of students gathered to dance for 30 consecutive hours. The event this year will raise money for The Children’s Heart Foundation and the Evanston Community Foundation.
NUDM public relations committee member Kameron Dodge, who is working on the security sub-committee this weekend, said registration for the event “went really well.”
“Everybody’s really excited,” the SESP sophomore said. “We’re feeding off the dancers’ energy.”
Betsy Peterson, who co-founded CHF with her husband Steve in 1996, said she is “in awe” of the student participants.
“We’re really grateful that they saw us as worthy of being beneficiaries for the second time,” Peterson said. CHF also received funds from NUDM in 1999.
“This year it’s beyond words,” Peterson said.
Megan Van Pelt, national president of CHF, said she has also been impressed by NUDM’s organized way of running the event.
“What differentiates Northwestern is they take time to interview a lot of different charities,” she said, noting that CHF is only the third organization that’s been chosen twice. “It’s a very thoughtful process.”
The Petersons started their foundation after losing their son, Sam, to heart disease in 1995. He was eight years old at the time.
“Our son would have just graduated from college,” Betsy Peterson said of watching NUDM. “It’s nice to see what he would have been like. He’d be one of those boys.”
With the help of The Foundation, Betsy Peterson assembled a team to publish a book called “It’s My Heart.” The book is free and can be viewed in its entirety for free on the CHF website. Its purpose was to explain several different heart defects in more detail than pamphlets, but in simpler terms than in medical journals.
A portion of the funds DM raises this year for CHF will contribute to making a second edition of this book.
Van Pelt and her husband, Ryan, became involved in the Foundation after their son Jack, now 13, was released from the hospital after he was first born. Jack had a congenital heart defect Megan describes as his heart forming backwards.
She will speak to DM dancers at 1:30 a.m. Jack will not be present for that because it’s past his bedtime.
Ryan Van Pelt said it’s fun to see the event unfold.
“It’s a special group of kids,” he said. “They have a lot of energy and have fun doing it.”
Weinberg junior Michelle Caley said she has a plan of how she’ll get through the next 30 hours. “It sounds lame, but the first thing is friends,” she said. “The second is that I have a great dance partner. And a friend is bringing me Red Mango and buffalo wings.
Betsy and Steve Peterson said they won’t be at the event the whole time.
“We’ll stay as long as we can stay awake,” Steve joked.
