Why you should attend MadiTHON

For many of us, college is a great opportunity to make long lasting memories that we will share with our friends, our family, and one day, our kids. James Madison University offers us an unbelievable opportunity to do this with so many clubs, organizations, and events in which we be involved. An extremely awesome event is coming up on February 20^th: JMU’s dance marathon, MadiTHON. 

What is MadiTHON

MadiTHON fundraises for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. It takes place on February 20th from 11am to 11pm in UREC’s new events gym! The event is more than just dancing for 12 hours. There will be a lot of cool performances, fun games, tons of free food and tear jerking speeches. This year MadiTHON is co sponsored by Phi Mu and Sigma Phi Epsilon.

History of MadiTHON

MadiTHON began in the Spring of 2014 by eight ambitious individuals in Phi Mu and Delta Upsilon who just wanted to make a difference. These individuals worked hard and proved that if you work hard towards something, you really can help create miracles. With very little experience running dance marathons, these individuals worked tirelessly to try and create the best possible event that they could. But they did more than that, they created one of the most successful dance marathons.

In MadiTHON’s first year it, it raised over $62,000, breaking the record for most money raised in a first year dance marathon on the East Coast. In 2015 the event was once again very successful, this year winning a Dolley Leadership Award for Outstanding Event. In addition, Children’s Miracle Network families came and told their remarkable stories and experiences, uniting the participants with a common cause while attracting performers from all over campus. The event was again a huge success raising over $60,000 for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. MadiTHON raised over $120,000 in its first two years, making it Virginia’s most successful dance marathon!

Why you should attend

1. It will be the first event held in UREC’s new event gym
2. There will be copious amounts of free food and drinks served at the event (aka. Chanellos, Jimmy Johns, Strites)
3. Where else can you see performances from Swell Daze, Party Cartel, Low Key and the Bluestones just to name a couple of the people attending the event for the small fee of $10?
4. To go along with all of the fun games and activities that will be offered at the event, there will be an epic lip sync battle of music that we all grew up listening to as kids
5. Finally, the most important reason of all: it’s For The Kids. There will be several families that come out to this event to thank the participants for helping to fundraise. These families will talk about how much they appreciate our fundraising efforts. But more importantly, they will tell us about how Children’s Miracle Network has helped changed their lives, and how every penny we have raise helps make a difference in a child’s life.