Dance Marathon:
Where it Started
Decades ago, a Dance Marathon was an event where the last couple standing won a prize. That all changed in 1973 when the Interfraternity Council began a Dance Marathon at Penn State University. By 1977 it had a set length (48 hours) and was an annual benefit for the Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State's Hershey Medical Center. Today the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon raises over $2 million annually.
Children's Miracle Network first heard of Dance Marathon when Indiana University raised more than $60,000 in only their third event for the Ryan White Infectious Diseases Fund. This fund was established by the Indiana University Dance Marathon Council at Riley Hospital for Children, a CMN hospital in Indianapolis.
Thanks to the help of students at Indiana and Penn State, and many schools since then, CMN's Dance Marathon program was born. In 1995, the first year of the program 4 schools raised $142,000 for kids treated at CMN hospitals. The next year, 10 schools participated and raised over $300,000. In 1997, 18 schools held Dance Marathons and raised more than $600,000. Currently, on 45 university campuses and a combined population of over 900,000 students, Dance Marathon is an annual event which raises funds for hospitalized children in local communities. In 1999, Dance Marathon events raised more than 1.7 million dollars for children's hospitals.
What does the future hold
for Dance Marathon? The more schools that participate, the more we can do to help local hospitalized kids. Won't you JOIN THE TEAM!
