Student organizations raise over 12,000 dollars
Thee, two, one! Posters were lifted high revealing $12,399 had been raised for Driscoll Children’s Hospital (DCH).
The music blared from the Memorial Student Union Building (MSUB) ballrooms as students adorned in tutus, Disney costumes and hospital bands danced and cheered. With lip sync and dance battle competitions happening throughout the day, students pushed to raise money for DCH at the annual Dance Marathon (DM) Saturday, April 23.
DM is an event hosted at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, (TAMUK) led by an executive board of students and different student organizations on campus. The event lasts several weeks and ends with a day in which students gather to dance, do not sit and wear hospital wrist bands.
The bright yellow hospital bands remind students that the event, during which sitting isn’t allowed, is temporary and they can remove their bands at the end of the day, but the children at DCH are still fighting and may not get to remove their bands as easily.
“Dance Marathon is a Greek Life led philanthropy where we strive to raise funds, provide emotional support to our families, and bring awareness for pediatric patients and families treated at DCH at Corpus Christi,” Junior Executive Director of DM Faith Escamilla said.
Students and teams fundraise all semester leading up to the DM event. This year’s goal was $10,000.
“The day of our event is usually six hours long where we continue to fundraise and invite our miracle families to come to our campus held event and have them tell their stories. All throughout the event, our dancers are dancing, playing games and interacting with our miracle kids,” she said.
Each year DM invites Miracle Families to join students as they dance and continue to raise money.
“Miracle Families are current patients of Driscoll’s Children’s Hospital. The hospital chooses the families that get to participate in our event. The families choose to share their stories and serve as advocates for Dance Marathon and the local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital,” Senior Director of Family and Hospital Relations Clarissa Benavides.
One Miracle Family in attendance was the Liguez family. Eleven-year-old Juliet Liguez and her family participated in this year’s event.
“She had a cleft palate, gum line and lip. She had her pallet closed when she came to us and then from there she had her lip closed. After her lip was closed, we’ve been working on her gum line since she was about nine. Next month she’ll have her third bone graft,” Amanda Liguez said.
Juliet Liguez was adopted when she was almost three years old and already had partial surgery by the time she was adopted.
The Liguez family spends a lot of time with Juliet’s surgeon and says DCH takes care of any need they have while there.
“Oh, this is great. It was so much fun and we had a great time. It’s good that these things happen,” Amanda Liguez said. “I would love to come back to this. My kids – both of them – have really enjoyed it. My daughter she’s real shy and she really enjoyed getting to be a part of it.”
As well as serving as a liaison between DCH, Miracle Families and TAMUK, Benavides was also the top female donor this year.
“I was a participant of Dance Marathon for four years. Every year, I found a deeper passion for this cause,” Benavides said. “As someone who is majoring in the clinical health sciences, I was able to learn more about Driscoll’s Children’s Hospital and the impacts that it makes on children and their families’ lives within our local community as well as my own hometown area. Now more than ever, kids can’t wait, so neither did I. That is why this year I talked to my family members, friends, and co-workers about this cause and was able to be the top female donor.”
In her four years participating in DM Benavides raised $1,772 towards DCH.
“My goal was never to be the top donor, but to inform others and inspire them to be passionate about the kids and this project. Being an advocate and active participant in DM was by far the highlight of my time here at TAMUK as an undergraduate student, and I encourage everyone to get involved in any way that they can,” she said.
The top male donor was DM’s Director of Dancer Relations Sophomore Joseph Cruz. Cruz raised over $1,000 for this year’s DM.
The top three teams for this year were the Directors Board, Theta Phi Alpha and Alpha Sigma Alpha.
While pushing for donations throughout the event students gather to learn a dance together. This year’s song was a mash up of Disney and Pixar music including songs from Encanto, Turning Red, Cars and more.
Alpha Sigma Phi Member Cristian Miranda was voted on by the DM board as having the best moves of the day.
“I thought it was hilarious that I won the Best Dance Moves award because I was being myself and having fun with the Collegiate Panhellenic Council President, Micaela Garcia. We were just having a good time with each other throughout the whole day,” he said.
This was Miranda’s third time participating in dance marathon.
“The event is important to me because we are raising money for children who need it at DCH. It feels good knowing that I am advocating for something bigger than myself,” he said.
If anyone is interested in getting involved, whether it be an organization or individual in next year’s DM, send a message to their Instagram @TAMUKDM.
Dance Marathon has multiple ways to get involved. Students can join any one of the director’s committees or can become a director themselves. Executive board applications opened Friday April 29 and will stay open until May 16.
“Just because our event is over does not mean our miracle kids’ battle is. It is our responsibility not only as a Javelina but as a generation to fight for those who can’t, and we have the power to do so. It’s time to act,” Escamilla concluded.