Despite COVID-19 restrictions, Suffolk University Dance Marathon will continue their tradition of fundraising for Boston Children’s Hospital.
Suffolk University Dance Marathon is a part of the Miracle Network Dance Marathon organization, a non-profit organization that works alongside 170 pediatric hospitals to raise awareness for the children suffering from illnesses.
All of the organizations that are involved with the Miracle Network Dance Marathon come from universities and schools. All of the proceeds go to the local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital in the area of the schools hosting the dance marathon.
The annual fundraiser hosted by the Suffolk University Dance Marathon is known as RAMMYthon. Created in 2018, Suffolk University Dance Marathon held its first 12-hour dance marathon in the Ridgeway Gymnasium in 2019. President Hannah Mitchell and the rest of the club are planning to raise money for the hospital, even though the dance marathon won’t be taking place.
The Suffolk University RAMMYthon organization consists of 17 executive board members led by Mitchell. Even though each of the members have their own separate duties, they are constantly working together year round to fundraise money for children in need at Boston Children’s.
Because of COVID-19, the organization decided it had to cancel the annual 12-hour dance marathon this year.
“We spoke with our faculty advisors and advisors at the hospital, and made the difficult decision to cancel this event,” said Mitchell.
It’s members are still hoping to reach their goal of $5,000 to donate this year. In previous years, the Miracle Network Dance Marathon has raised more than $44 million.
In order to reach this goal, members still have many fundraising opportunities planned to collect proceeds to donate to Boston Children’s Hospital. This year, the organization is planning a week-long event to replace its normal 12-hour dance fundraiser. To keep this fundraiser safe, there will be a mix of in-person and virtual events to ensure safety for all the attendees and members of the organization.
“It’s been challenging online because there are lots of different guidelines we need to follow and it’s tricky to make everyone aware of the fundraisers,” said Talia Ferraro, co-fundraising chair.
Along with this week-long event they have planned, they are constantly hosting other fundraisers that can be found on their Instagram , @rammython. Some of these recent fundraisers included a Walk-A-Thon, Espresso Day raffle, as well as social media Venmo fundraisers on Kindness Day and Giving Tuesday.
“Our most successful fundraiser so far was the Walk-A-Thon which was Oct. 11 through Oct. 18, which raised about $1,000,” said Ferraro. “We’ve been trying to do smaller online fundraisers like raffles to get people more engaged with us on social media.”
RAMMYthon did hold one in-person event during the fall semester, a pumpkin decorating event in advance of Halloween, on Oct. 22.
“This was more of an awareness event rather than a fundraiser,” said Ferraro. “It was the first event we did during the fall semester to get our name out there. People who never have come to our events before attended, which was exciting.”
With Suffolk Dance Marathon entering its third year as an organization on campus, it is still a newer group and is always looking for new members.
“We are always wanting people to find out more about what our organization stands for and how they can help,” said Ferraro. “This organization on campus has the sole purpose of raising money for a really good cause and I have never been involved in something like this. It’s been a great experience, and everyone should support it.”
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