This Saturday, Feb. 6, about 1,200 dancers will gather inside and around the Student Center Ballroom to participate in Auburn University's Dance Marathon's 12-hour main event. After a yearlong fundraising campaign, the organization will announce this year's fundraising total at the end of the event.
This year, AUDM has a public fundraising goal of $395,000. In AUDM's first four years, the organization fundraised $605,000, which is why it chose this year's goal to be that specific amount, according to Cory Brinkman, vice president of fundraising.
"You add $395,000 to [the last four year's amount], you get a million dollars," Brinkman, senior in finance, said.
John McNiell, president of AUDM, said he thinks this year's goal will take work.
"There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s achievable," McNiell, senior in aerospace engineering, said. "If everyone would just do a little bit, just put in a little bit of work, they’ll understand why it was so important that they did when they show up at our event and they meet the kids and they see where the money is going."
"It really means a lot for us," said Sarah Shute, director of finance and fundraising. "We would be the first school in the Southeast to accomplish this."
This is the first year AUDM has had a public goal, according to Brinkman.
"We revealed [our goal] on a Friday [in the fall], letting [the] campus know," Brinkman said. "We’ve never had a public goal before, but we thought it would really motivate campus to rally behind us and our staff."
This year, AUDM will be sponsored by the Interfraternity Council and Love's, travel stop and country store, according to McNiell.
"[The IFC is] helping us pay for some of the meals at the event, and we are incredibly grateful for them," McNiell said. "They’ve supported us every year, and we have lots of fraternities at the event."
This is the first year Love's has sponsored AUDM. Although Love's has supported Oklahoma's dance marathon for several years, the National Miracle Network Dance Marathon approached Love's with the opportunity to expand into other programs, according to McNiell.
"Love’s chose schools in their major markets...Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Alabama," McNiell said. "We’re fortunate enough to be able to partner with Love’s this year and there will be lots of Love’s logos at our event."
Last year, AUDM fundraised $238,035.14, according to Mallory Glover, vice president of public relations. Glover, a senior in media studies, said the money fundraised by AUDM is spent at the discretion of the Children's Miracle Network Hospital in Columbus, Georgia.
"They determine where the money will go since they work there," Glover said. "They know how the money can best be used to benefit the kids."
The CMN Hospital in Columbus, Georgia, is a level three NICU unit, which is the highest in all of our surrounding counties, according to Glover.
"[If a] child is born at under 32 weeks gestation, or they have a critical illness, they can be treated at this hospital," Glover said.
Glover said one of the things the Columbus CMN Hospital has that she loves is the neonatal ambulance, or "baby ambulance," they use.
"It’s made specifically premature babies," Glover said. "When they’re born and they need to be transported quickly to a hospital, this is an ambulance our hospital has that no one else in our area has this and they can be transported in an ambulance built specifically for them."
Shute, senior in microbiology, said a plaque in the pediatric emergency room is dedicated to AUDM because of its pledge to raise $500,000 for the Columbus CMN Hospital over the course of five years. Shute said the emergency room is named after the Auburn University Dance Marathon.
Since AUDM started doing the naming pledge at the beginning of the last year, the money fundraised by AUDM has gone to the emergency room, pediatric intensive care unit and the playroom, according to Glover.
"We are really trying to increase the level of care that they have in the hospital, whatever child that may be that walks through that door," Glover said. "But we’re also looking at expanding the neonatal care unit as well."
Brinkman said AUDM is "famous" in the dance marathon and Children's Miracle Network world.
"The CEO of CMN came to Columbus a couple of weeks ago, and he already knew about us," Brinkman said. "A lot of other campuses have trouble getting started and growing, but [dance marathon] caught on so quickly [here]."
Shute said the main thing she wants people on campus to know about is how easy it is to fundraise for AUDM.
"It’s something as easy as not getting Starbucks," Shute said. "You can put those dollars toward helping kids in need at our local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital."
"We can't thank campus enough for their support and joining our cause," Glover said. "Together, [it's] Auburn's cause."
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