“Having light we pass it on to others.” Students gathered in the CDR this past Saturday from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. to pass on their light as they participated in the third annual TigerThon.
The event itself is a fundraiser in the form of a dance marathon. It is part of a nationwide movement to support hospitals within the Children’s Miracle Network. The Children’s Miracle Network is a non-profit organization that raises funds and awareness for more than 170 pediatric hospitals across North America, and are the only children’s charity committed to having 100 percent of the funds raised stay local to support local kids. The Miracle Network Dance Marathon has raised more than $150 million for children across North America. The network’s mission is “ensuring that no child or family fights pediatric illness or injury alone.”
The network’s website goes into detail about the founding of the network. It was brought about in 1991 by students at Indiana University in the memory of a fellow student by the name of Ryan White who passed away from HIV/AIDS. Miracle Network Dance Marathons now span North America, benefiting hundreds of hospitals and countless children in the United States and Canada. The network is a movement that unites college, university and high school students across North America. Students involved in a campus’ dance marathon organization spend a year gaining leadership, teamwork and nonprofit business experience while raising funds and awareness for their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.
The event culminates with a 6-40 hour event (the dance marathon) on each campus where students get to meet families treated at their local hospital, participate in games and dancing, entertainment and reveal their annual fundraising total. Dance marathons have become a tradition on campus and in the community. Each organization is “entirely student-run and 100 percent of all funds raised go directly to the school’s local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. Last year alone, Miracle Network Dance Marathons raised more than $26 million.”
In the past, Wittenberg’s TigerThon has raised over $10,000 “for the kids,” this generation fighting for the next with local Dayton Children’s Hospital as the benefactor. Wittenberg University’s TigerThon is one of hundreds of unique dance marathons across North America.