Reasons why UF loves Dance Marathon
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
Dance Marathon — the event that can make you laugh, cry, and rejoice.
This past weekend the largest annual student-run philanthropy event took place on UF’s campus. If you didn’t participate this year make sure you put on your dancing and get there next year to be a part of this amazing opportunity.
The Tab went along to Dance Marathon and complied the reasons why UF students love DM so much.
We, the people, of UF…
According to the UF DM website, there are 6,833 students right now that are involved. That’s us. That’s a group of Gators making an impact, changing lives. This is not about making UF look good on paper. It’s about standing up for those who cannot. It’s acknowledging those of us at UF are pretty damn lucky, and now we have the opportunity to give back.
But since we’re Gators, we’re going to have fun while doing it.
Never a better time to celebrate
Dance Marathon supports the celebration of life. Most of us learned about this concept in Good Life, but it really just made us dread it. However, Dance Marathon is not about reading Siddartha and trying to make an easy (but tedious) grade. It’s about actually doing something that’s going to influence those around you to celebrate life. It’s mostly important because of the kids: It’s about raising money so children who experience such strife have the opportunity to celebrate life, too.
Fun with friends
This years reveal
One of the best parts of DM? There are so many people there. You can make new friends and dance with some old ones. You can get closer to the people you’ve been wanting to talk to. You can jump for joy together when the number is revealed on how much our campus has made a difference.
Making memories for miracles
Participating in Dance Marathon is so much fun, and you’re sure to make memories with your friends. What really counts isn’t the amount of students involved or the amount of money raised (although those are very important) — it’s about who we are doing this for.
There are over fifty Miracle families Dance Marathon aims to help. One example is Elizabeth “Ellie” C. She is eight years old and is being taken care of by amazing doctors for Glycogen Storage Disease. Even though she feels poorly sometimes, she still loves gymnastics and tumbling. When you get hyped about Dance Marathon, you’re helping to make sure that Ellie keeps jumping!
When you support Dance Marathon, you are also helping Jack who was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. He is now in remission and continues to love playing practical jokes and video games. His parents say, “To the Dance Marathon kids, you ROCK! It is not just about fundraising, it’s also how you make all of our kids feel special and loved, and we thank you for all that you do FTK!”
Dance Marathon happened so quickly but it will last in our hearts forever. UF is already looking forward to making the difference #FTK next year.
Always remember: We as a college community helped kids feel the love you have for them.