An inside look at Big Red Thon

This past Saturday, Phi Mu Fraternity and Phi Delta Epsilon Medical Fraternity hosted and sponsored not just Cornell’s first ever dance marathon, but the first ever dance marathon in the Ivy League for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMNH).

This event, which raised $40,469.86 for the Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital in Syracuse, NY, was created in part by both Phi Mu and Phi Delta Epsilon in order to raise money for their shared philanthropy.

On the day of the event, I was able to interview Alexandra Hill-Ricciuti, Philanthropy chairman for Phi Mu and Executive Director of the Dance Marathon E-board about all the work she and the rest of the executive committee have put together.

Big Red Thon Executive Board (left to right): Maria Cielito Robles, Nina Koester, Anna Ravenelle, Cassandra Rodriguez, Livia Sun, Carmen Fang, Ally Hill and Chelsea Assang

What gave you the idea to want to sponsor a dance marathon?

Phi Mu was generally looking for a philanthropy event that Cornell has never done or seen before, so we figured that a dance marathon would be the perfect way to do so. CMNH is associated with the dance marathon movement across colleges in the nation.

How involved has Phi Mu been with the dance marathon?

Phi Mu and PhiDE have both been super involved with putting together this dance marathon. It’s a cause that’s really dear to our hearts and every single one of these girls are so happy to be volunteering here today.

What is Phi Mu’s involvement with CMNH?

Phi Mu loves CMNH! We have a very close relationship with the children in the hospital in Syracuse. We’re the only sorority on campus that does monthly hospital visits to Upstate Golisano, and we love seeing the kids and being able to put smiles back on their faces. So putting on the dance marathon for these kids is a great way to give back to a cause that’s so dear to us and means so much to these children.

How do you think BRT will impact the Cornell community and students’ views on CMNH?

Dance marathons have huge impacts on schools across the country. Penn State, for instance, was able to raise over 13 million dollars — it’s an amazing way to make money for a good cause and bring people together. It’s great to see these organizations and people who wouldn’t normally interact to come together for such a great cause.

We really wanted to emphasize that this isn’t solely a Greek life event, but a Cornell event, campus-wide. Yeah, it’s to make money for the kids, but it’s mostly about having fun. This event has only proven that it doesn’t matter what sorority you’re in, we’re raising money for the kids who don’t have the chance to be in one, or even have the chance to go to an Ivy League institution.

How has the student involvement been with the dance marathon for the kids? Do you think students are excited to dance for the kids?

Everyone seems super excited for the event.Over 500 participants have registered on Donor Drive for this event, people from all sorts of different organizations on campus. It hasn’t been just Greeks registering to dance, but other groups like the Cornell Polo Team just signed up literally two hours ago on the day of the event. The reactions from the Cornell community have been really positive and I’m really glad for it.

The Donor Drive account for Big Red Thon will remain active until Sunday, November 15 to accept continuing donations to the hospital.