On Saturday, Feb. 27, West Chester University hosted their very first Dance-A-Thon, sponsored by Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed service fraternity on campus. The event attracted students with a vast variety of food and $10 T-shits being sold.
The event lasted from noon to midnight, and the event raised $14,485.39 for Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP) and the Children Miracle Network Hospitals.
Ever year, dance-a-thons around the country fundraise money for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMNH). CMNH has raised over $5 billion dollars for 170 children’s hospitals in the United States and Canada, where funds have gone to research, training and uncompensated care. Their goal is to raise funds and awareness for local children’s hospitals.
“The event was amazing. I had no idea when I came to West Chester that they held events like this one,” said freshman Katherine Mash. “I knew that Penn State had THON and that it was a huge deal there, but I had no idea that we had something similar.”
Mash is the treasurer for the WCU College Democrats and was inspired by the amount of the money this event had raised.
“When I saw how much money the event had made on Facebook, I was pleasanty surprised,” said Mash. “The WCU College Democrats hold events all the time, including fundraisers at Barnaby’s and bake sales, but we’ve never held an event capable of raising this much money.”
According to the Miracle Network Dance Marathon, over $43 million have been raised for pediatric cancer.
“It’s a nice opportunity for WCU students to get involved and support an important cause,” said junior Rachel Alfiero.
According to Alfiero, who is the features editor for The Quad, it’s very important to her that students stay up to date on events happening around campus.
“Getting involved doesn’t have to neccesarily mean picking up trash,” said Alfiero. “It could be something fun, like dancing with your friends.”
Alpha Phi Omega has been working on putting this event together for months now, and they are happy with the results.
Juniors Sam Fleck and Jennifer Latchford played a role in putting thi event together. Fleck did Finance & Morale, while Latchford did Public Relations. Both Fleck and Latchford commented on the success of the event.
“We were all very lucky to be a part of something so amazing and we hope to see it grow each and every year,” they said. “Thank you to everyone who helped us raise $14,458.39 FTK!”
Kinjal Shah is a second-year student majoring in English. She can be reached at KS826308@wcupa.edu.