“The opportunity to be a part of Dance Marathon over the past four years has been one of the most rewarding and transformational experiences I have had while at SU,” said women’s rowing senior and four-year participant of SUDM, Jen Cruz. “Being a part of SUDM has allowed me to contribute to our community and make a huge difference in the lives of others. For four years, I served as Morale Captain, which allowed me to share my enthusiasm with other students. I have loved sharing this experience with my team and it has made us better teammates in and out of practice.”
The entire event lasts for 16 hours and SU Dance Marathon participants challenge themselves to dance for the entire duration to “demonstrate solidarity with the patients at Children’s who are not able to take a break from their illnesses”, according to the SUDM website. Hundreds of SU students, student-athletes, staff, patients and families from Seattle Children’s Hospital, and local community members participate in the annual event.
In 2016, the group’s goal was to raise $99,000 “FTK”, as they put it, or “for the kids”, but due to the generosity of the community were able to raise over $110,500, which nearly doubled the fundraising efforts from 2015.
Redhawk hour is one of several themes throughout the event, which drew many SU student-athletes to support the efforts of the participants. Student-athletes from women’s rowing, men’s and women’s soccer, tennis, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s golf, track, and cheer and dance either participated in or supported the SUDM event.
“It was such a great event and I have to give so much credit to the team and everyone involved in planning,” said women’s soccer’s Abby Bouck. “I started out dreading being on my feet for 16 hours, but every time I thought I wasn’t going to make it, we had an adrenaline boost from either a choreographed line dance, shading in the thermometer as we progressively got closer to our goal, or an amazing story of how the Seattle Children’s Uncompensated Care Fund has helped a family. During Dance Marathon, I could feel the teamwork and love of the community in a magnitude that I hadn’t before. I want to thank my team and all the other teams that came out and supported us during Redhawk hour. I will never forget the excitement that we all shared after 16 hours of dancing when we went above and beyond our fundraising goals and set records for Dance Marathon.”
Other than dancing, SUDM features performances, a photo booth, games, a silent auction, and the opportunity for participants to hear from actual patients from Seattle Children’s that benefit from the money raised for the Uncompensated Care Fund. This fund makes it possible for children in need to receive treatment and care regardless of the family’s ability to pay.
“It was so great to attend Redhawk Hour at Dance Marathon,” said Kristen James of the women’s tennis team. “It was very inspiring to see all of the hard work that was put into Dance Marathon and then even more inspiring to see all of the dancers committed to dancing for 16 hours for the kids.”
To learn more about Seattle U Dance Marathon, visit http://www.seattleudancemarathon.org/.