For the first time, UW-Madison will join other Big Ten schools in hosting the student-organized Dance Marathon designed to raise money for the American Family Children's Hospital.
Participants will be able to sign up for the event at the Oct. 15 kickoff or online.
Teams have to raise a certain amount of money for their team. Once that is raised, they can participate in the marathon; it's kind of like for Relay for Life,"" said Ellen Vanden Branden, chair of public relations for Dance Marathon.
There will be several awareness and fundraising events between the time of the kickoff and the dance marathon during Homecoming Week.
According to Vanden Branden, the actual event will take place on Feb. 27, 2009, and will consist of a 14-hour night of dancing to raise money for children and families associated with AFCH.
Meghan Marostica, co-chair of Dance Marathon's executive council, said the group registered as a student organization in July 2008.
""We were approached by the CEO of the children's hospital, and we were told that we were the only Big Ten university that didn't have a dance marathon,"" Marostica said. ""It is huge everywhere else.""
Jeff Poltawsky, administrator for AFCH, said the organization's commitment to helping children throughout the state has amazed all the Dance Marathon organizers.
Both the Dance Marathon team and those helping from AFCH said they are enthusiastic about promoting the fundraiser.
""We are just starting to raise awareness on campus,"" Vanden Branden said. ""After we get things going on the campus level, we are going to hopefully extend it to the whole state of Wisconsin.""
Though the event is localized to the UW-Madison campus, directors are hopeful a large number of community members will attend.
""For our inaugural dance marathon, our goal is $100,000, which is pretty small compared to the $6 million goal at Penn State University,"" Vanden Branden said. ""The actual event will look very similar to other Big Ten dance marathons.""
Nikki Rupe, co-chair of Dance Marathon's executive board, said she thinks students on campus will bring their school enthusiasm to the event.
""'For the kids' is our slogan. Every university uses the same slogan; it reminds us why we are doing this,"" Marostica said.
