Colored chalk powder filled the air at Hooker Fields around midnight last Saturday as participants danced for 12 hours straight, all while raising $288,306.07 for patients at the UNC Children’s Hospital.
It was the first in-person UNC Dance Marathon hosted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carolina For The Kids Foundation, the host of the marathon, is the largest student-run nonprofit in North Carolina and works to provide emotional and financial support to hospitalized children and their families.
The Dance Marathon — held on campus every spring — is the culmination of the organization’s year-long fundraising efforts. The 2022 event was a departure from past 24-hour marathons.
“Not sleeping and not sitting for 12 hours is obviously difficult, but it's kind of attesting to that we can do that with the support of other people, and kind of show them we can break through something like that," said Madison Gilder, public relations chairperson for CFTK. "Even though that would never match up to what (the kids) go through when they're in the hospital."
Since the first Dance Marathon in 1999, CFTK has donated more than $5.1 million to the N.C. Children’s Hospital through a series of grants and activities to help cover expenses not included in the patient's insurance plan.
The event involved 17 performance groups, including UNC Psalm 100, a Christian A Cappella group, UNC Flying Silk, a traditional Chinese dance team and a video performance by UNC Figure Skating, Kayla Kilts, entertainment chair for CFTK, said.
“I really wanted to make sure that it was inclusive of everyone's interests,” Kilts said.
In order to keep the event engaging, dancers and committee members were divided into teams to create a competition including games and posting on social media, said Mary-Catherine Gray, operations chairperson for CFTK.
