Dance marathon returns in-person for the first time in two years
This year’s annual RhodyTHON raised $62,345.68 to donate to Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence. PHOTO CREDIT: Hannah Charron | Staff Photographer
RhodyTHON had their 10 hour-long dance marathon on Saturday, April 2 to raise money and celebrate the funds they raised over the year for miracle families from Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, RI.
RhodyTHON members get to meet and hang out with the families throughout the day and participate in activities like dances and photo booths during the event, according to RhodyTHON executive director Paige Nickla.
This is the fifth year RhodyTHON has been here at the University of Rhode Island and the first in-person dance marathon since a two year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was really excited with the turnout that we had and the number of people who registered to go to the event, which was over 1,200 people. Looking at final numbers, it’s probably about 700 to 800 coming to the event,” Haley Leclerc, vice president of membership, said.
Nickla agreed, saying more people came to the event than she thought, which means there was a lot of support for the families and RhodyTHON as a whole. This was shown in the representation from different groups at URI and from the individual supporters who were able to be there.
“It was a really nice refresher. Coming from virtual and COVID, being able to see the miracle families, see who we are fundraising for and building that connection was the biggest thing,” Nickla said.
RhodyTHON was a heavily Greek life-based event when Nickla and Leclerc started in their freshman year in 2018. Nickla said that she thinks they did a good job of expanding the event to include more diversity and inclusion, as well as including other on-campus organizations.
Teams could register to raise money as a group or individually. The URI Club Dance team fundraised as a group and performed at the event. Nickla said that they raised over $2,000 and spent time with a miracle kid who they created a great bond with.
Musically Inclined and The Rhody Rhapsodies, the University’s a cappella groups, performed as well. There was Zumba and every hour the executive members performed the morale dance, a dance in order to raise spirits, followed by sharing a miracle family’s story.
The kids walked down a red carpet and came onto the stage where their stories were read aloud so everyone could get to know them and hear about their connection to Hasbro.
At the end of the night, RhodyTHON executives revealed the total amount that everyone had raised, which was $62,345.68. This money will be given to Hasbro and go towards Child Life Programs and help pay for portions of hospital expenses for miracle kids. The money can also go towards medical equipment, or hospital renovations like the funds from the 2019 dance marathon went to.
“I think everything that we fundraise in a way goes to helping kids celebrate more birthdays and enjoy more of their time as a kid,” Leclerc said. “So no matter what the hospital deems is the most important, we know at the end of the day that we’re making them have a better life and spend more time being a kid and less time worrying about whatever illness they’re going through at that time.”
Other than the Dance Marathon, RhodyTHON holds other events throughout the year that went well, Nickla said.
“I definitely, as the executive director, saw a huge change from the beginning of the year in September, all the way up until now with not only just our board being close and facilitating those relationships with each other, but the work ethic and drive too as the event got closer came together to put on these events and put together the booths,” Nickla said.