Dance Marathon “Commits For The Kids” on Child Health Day

On Monday, October 1, collegiate and K-12 Miracle Network Dance Marathon programs throughout the nation celebrated Child Health Day.

Child Health Day is a United States Federal Observance Day observed on the first Monday in October. In a Presidential Proclamation in 2013, President Barack Obama said “On Child Health Day, we are reminded of our first, most urgent task—to protect and develop the health of our children. Today, let us reaffirm our commitment to our Nation’s youth and remember our future depends on their success.”

Students from 231 campuses made efforts to #CommitForTheKids by registering for their campus’s Dance Marathon program, fundraising, and helping to spread the word that children’s hospitals need donations to save kids’ lives.

Miracle Network Dance Marathon programs were eligible to compete in Child Health Day Challenges with the programs in each respective tier that registered the most new participants and the programs that fundraised the most on Child Health Day receiving additional donations. Programs were also recognized for the most creative social media posts and on-campus awareness initiatives that helped to promote their Child Health Day campaigns.

In total, 11,451 individuals registered as fundraisers for 202 different Dance Marathon programs on Child Health Day. The programs in each tier that registered the most new participants include:

Over 11,000 individual participants from 226 different campuses received donations on Child Health Day, helping to collectively raise $493,608 in one day. The programs that collectively fundraised the most in each tier include:

The top five individual students who fundraised the most were also recognized and will have up to $1,000 of their one-day fundraising total matched. Overall, 17 students reached “comma club,” meaning they had a comma in their fundraising total from raising over $1,000, on Child Health Day. The top five individual fundraisers are:

Programs were also encouraged to help spread awareness that children’s hospitals need donations and how their funds raised are benefitting their local CMN Hospitals. The winners of the awareness challenges are listed below. Be sure to continue reading to see the winning programs’ and individuals’ social media posts.

To show their “funds in action,” Loras College Dance Marathon shared a video that shows the patient and family services that are made available at the University of Iowa Dance Marathon Stead Family Children’s Hospital thanks to their programs pledge to raise $500,000 for their hospital.

Throughout the day on Child Health Day, Fontbonne University Dance Marathon shared graphics that showcase what $5,000 would help to provide for their hospital. This campaign helped to demonstrate to their campus what their goal of raising $5,000 on Child Health Day could tangibly purchase for the hospital and superhero themed in conjunction with their  “Be Heroic Today” slogan.

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This #FundsInAction shows
that $5K provides 25 patients
with music therapy! Comment below on your guess for this Green Hero. Last hour was Batman! Want to help us reach #5Kin1Day? #LinkInBio #FBUDM #CommitForTheKids
#FTK #CHD18

A post shared by Fontbonne University DM (@fontbonnedm) on Oct 1, 2018 at 10:00am PDT

OwlThon at Florida Atlantic University posted a video to promote their registration week campaign that kicked off on Child Health Day. The video includes OwlThon members explaining why they “Commit for the Kids” in the hope of helping students on their campus to be inspired to want to register as a fundraiser. In total, 277 individuals registered for OwlThon on Monday.

On Child Health Day, individual participants could also be recognized for posting on their social media channels based on the prompt “I #CommitForTheKids because…” The most impactful posts will be recognized with a $100 donation toward their fundraising efforts for their local hospital.

Check out the winning posts below:

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shortly before my sixth birthday, something started to feel wrong. my left leg started hurting. doctors attributed the aches to growing pains, but it kept getting worse for months. I saw countless specialists and received countless tests, but no one knew what was going on until one day, in april of 2006, I got out of bed, fell, and couldn’t get back up. that day, I was diagnosed with ganglioneuroblastoma, a form of cancer that develops in nerve tissue. it was, for lack of a better medical explanation, a tumor sitting on a nerve in my abdomen that affected my entire left leg. surgeons were able to remove the tumor after two surgeries and two weeks in the hospital. my nightmare continued a year later, when my oldest brother Andrew was diagnosed with a different form of cancer. thankfully, after undergoing surgery and chemotherapy, he was given the all clear as well. I am incredibly fortunate that I have been cancer free for almost 13 years, and that my brother has been cancer free for almost 12! this is, no doubt, thanks to not only the grace of God but the doctors and nurses at Duke Children’s Hospital who worked tirelessly on our cases. they have been with me on my long journey to revert some of the damage to my leg and assure that the cancer won’t be coming back. they took everything I threw their way with grace and a smile, and they supported my family when we went through the worst two years of our lives. I am eternally grateful. this is why #ChildHealthDay is so important to me. my brother and I are so lucky to be where we are today, but many are not nearly as fortunate. this is why @elonthon and I want you to take a moment today to think about the kids who have to wake up every morning to another day of fighting for their health. to everyone who is still reading…thank you. today and everyday, #CommitForTheKids

A post shared by ellen fiedler (@ellenann_f) on Oct 1, 2018 at 8:43am PDT

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me: surrounded by 315 balloons to represent the 315 patient beds at the children’s hospital of pittsburgh. also me: committed to raise $1,530 for these miracle kids! $1,000 can help purchase a new piano for the Music Therapy Studio that is currently being built at Children’s, $500 can buy 30 canvasses for patients to paint on during art therapy, and $30 is meant to represent my 30 PDM board members who have become like family and inspire me every day. help me give kids a chance to be kids by donating through the link in my bio or Venmo me at @ Leah-Kelly-4 and I’ll donate it to myself!! #ChildHealthDay #CommitForTheKids #WhyPDM

A post shared by Leah Kelly (@leah_marie3) on Oct 1, 2018 at 12:33pm PDT

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I #CommitForTheKids because every kid deserves to have more good days than bad. For Richard, for Joey, for Olivia and every other kid treated by a #CMN Hospital, join us today and register for Hawkathon 2018 to be a part of this generation fighting for the next. Link in bio. Together we can make a difference.

A post shared by Danny Weaver (@d_weaves8) on Oct 1, 2018 at 4:42pm PDT

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I #CommitForTheKids to make more dreams come true. I giveback through Dance Marathon because if it weren't for a Children's Miracle Network Hospital, my little brother Leonard wouldn't be the energetic full of life kid he is today. Every minute 62 children are being admitted to CMN hospitals across the nation. With your help, we can give these children MORE hope, MORE tomorrows, and MORE miracles. Come and join the movement, one generation fighting for the next?#ftk

A post shared by Kayla Mary Jordan? (@kaylamary15) on Oct 1, 2018 at 11:22am PDT

Miracle Network Dance Marathon is an international movement, involving over 400 colleges, universities and K-12 schools across North America that fundraise for their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Since its inception in 1991, Miracle Network Dance Marathon has raised more than $250 million–ensuring that no child or family fights pediatric illness or injury alone.

Learn more about Miracle Network Dance Marathon:

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