After raising $501,528 for Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital last year, USC Dance Marathon looks to surpass last year’s tally by over $90,000 with a new goal of $600,119 for 2016, the executive board announced.
“This year… we were thinking about what could really ignite campus again,” Abby Scott, fourth-year public relations student and the executive director of USCDM, said. “We chose $600,119 because … that’s what our hospital really needs for their child life department to fully run.”
The announcement marks the beginning of USCDM’s “Be The Reason” campaign, which involves substantial recruitment and fundraising leading up to their biggest event of the year, the USC Dance Marathon.
This year, USCDM is asking each of their participants, or “heroes,” to raise $119, in honor of the 119 beds in the Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital.
“I do it to make a difference in the lives of children,” Kara Neesen, fourth-year public relations student and member of the external production committee for USCDM, said. “It’s really special because you get to meet [the Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital patients], and you feel like you get to grow with them. You really get to see who you’re impacting and where the money is going.”
Hero registration is open and will continue until midnight, Feb. 22. The main event takes place on Feb. 27. Volunteers can join the cause at http://web.sa.sc.edu/dm/register-today/.