You don't have to run, bike or swim to be a winner at this marathon. In fact, all you need is an open heart and a pair of dancing shoes. Dance Marathon, a 24-hour dance party, raises money for donations to the Sarah DuBose Fund for the University of Virginia Health System's Newborn Intensive Care Unit.
While the cost to attend is $50, marathoners are encouraged to raise the entrance fee through donations. University students can sign up for the event on the Lawn next week or online to www.uvadm.org.
This year's theme is Road Trip, and each hour will feature a different part of the country, third-year College student Rachel Merson said. There will be clubbing hour in New York City with techno music. Movie soundtracks will be played during Hollywood hour, and students also will kick up their heels to country music in Louisiana.
According to Merson, the last two hours of Dance Marathon are family hours where the children who have been helped by the NICU join the party.
"There are these little kids running around where just a few years before, their parents and doctors did not know if they were going to live or die," Merson said. "You get to see what you have danced for and what you raised your money for; and it is to save a child's life."
Two large wood boards, one on the Lawn and one by Newcomb, advertise Dance Marathon via a countdown.
"Next week, we are having 'Wake Up to DM Day' which will start with painting Beta Bridge," Merson said. "We want to get as many people as we can excited about it."
Pat Belisle, director of annual giving for the Children's Medical Center, encouraged everyone to participate.
"Come, have fun, work for a good cause and help this community see what all of the good people at U.Va. do," she said. "We could not raise this money without the students. We are very, very grateful for them."
According to Merson, Dance Marathon generated $111,000 for the Sarah DuBose Fund last year. Dance Marathoners aim to raise even more this time around.
Belisle said that 75 percent of the donations will go toward needed renovations of the NICU. Overnight rooms will be created for parents who travel long distances, and there will also be more space for the babies. Renovations will begin in 2004.
The other 25 percent of the donations will be used for immediate patient and family needs in the PICU, NICU and Kluge Children's Rehabilitation Center, Belisle said.
These changes would not be possible without the help of Dance Marathon.
"We always like to hold up the Dance Marathon students as a good example of how U.Va. students give back to the community," Belisle said.
The party begins at 4 p.m. March 22 in Memorial Gym.
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