With mere days until Dance Marathon’s main event, the organization is still pushing to raise "Half a Million in Half the Time."
Since 1999, the organization has raised over $1.9 million to benefit Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital. Last year’s main event raised $318,649 for the kids, but this year USCDM hopes to break $500,000.
But no one knows if they've done it yet. Not even Leslie Knight, USCDM executive director.
“We don’t disclose fundraising information this close to the event," Knight said. "We like to keep it under wraps.”
Knight will get cut off from checking the exact numbers this close to the event; however, as of Monday night, she had raised $13,160 of her own $14,000 goal for this year.
She said the surprise of the grand total keeps the participants from getting caught up in the numbers during the main event.
The organization has engaged various fund-raising activities throughout the year, most recently the #1Day30K fundraiser — through Twitter pledges and on-campus fundraising events, USCDM raised far more than the $30,000 goal, bringing in a total of $54,750.61 in those 24 hours.
For the main event, USC students will gather in Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center on March 21 from 10 a.m. to midnight.
Knight and the rest of the participants are gearing up for Dance Marathon and for the first time in the organization’s history at USC, the time of the event has been sliced. Instead of the 24 hours, participants will now only dance for 14.
This allows for 12 hours of dancing and an hour for both the opening and closing ceremonies.
“This week to prep for the main event, our focus is on our participants to make sure they feel prepared with fundraising and know what to expect at the event,” Knight said. “All week we will be communicating with registered heroes to give fundraising tips and explain how the event will go.”
They have already been divided into six teams that represent the six floors of the Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital — the hospital they have been raising money for.
“The best part of main event is hearing the stories from the miracle families affected by the hospital and USCDM,” she said. “Hearing a child thank all of us for what we are doing makes everything more than worth it.”