The annual Riley Dance-a-Thon is this week. The Riley Dance-a-Thon Committee has worked to bring the school together for their cause of raising money to aid sick children.
The dance is on Friday, February 28. It starts at 5 p.m.
This year, the Dance Marathon takes place in the student center and the cafeteria. Food will be provided for participants.
The Riley Dance-a-Thon is a fundraising event for Riley Children’s Hospital. Every dollar raised goes to Riley Children’s Hospital.
“Everything we raise goes to the kids,” committee member senior Olivia Taylor said. “It’s super meaningful to them, to know that there are people out there helping them. Anything you raise just makes their day.”
By raising funds, students and participants bring awareness and save lives.
“We want to reach our goal of raising $50,000,” said Taylor. “But, overall, our goal is to have people come, spread awareness, and most importantly, have fun.”
Riley Children’s Hospital is ranked 11th out of about 250 children’s hospitals in the U.S.
They are recognized as Indiana’s best children’s hospital.
Riley Children’s Hospital treats more than 300,000 each year.
“Riley Children’s Hospital is equipped to deal with anything,” committee member senior Elle Kramer said. “By raising money, we help the hospital with affording their clinical trials in order to help more people.”
By working with Riley Children’s Hospital, the committee is helping give back to the community and helping the kids who need it.
The Riley Marathon Committee has worked to ensure that the event will go smoothly.
“We have reached out to Riley Children’s Hospital and have met at least once a week to work together,” Kremer said. “We stayed on track with our timeline so that everything is perfect.”
The committee began planning the Riley Dance-a-Thon in August. They broke down and divided all of the work so that everyone had a job.
By allocating jobs to committee members, the committee ensured everything would run smoothly.
“For the Dance, we handcrafted everything,” Taylor said. “We’ve taken inspiration from past years to include the good things and change what needed improvement. We want everyone to enjoy themselves.”
Having fun is the committee’s number one priority. The Dance-a-Thon provides an opportunity for students to have fun with their friends while contributing to a good cause.
“The Dance is a great way to rally the whole school together,” Taylor said. “It gives people an outlet to be creative and have fun.”
Students that participate in the Dance Marathon form teams. They each have a theme to dress as.
Every team participating must have a different theme to prevent overlap and confusion.
“I chose to participate for the sake of the sick children in our community,” junior Rayyan Muhammad said. “I’m in the Recycling Club and we have a team together. Our theme is Hawiian.”
Muhammad’s family and friends were involved in donating to help his team reach their money goal of $500. He hopes to participate next year as well.
“I hope that after the Dance, participants will want to come back next year,” Taylor said. “I want everyone to have so much fun.”
When more people come, the overall money goal for the Dance Marathon grows.
