UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND RECEIVES 2021 MERCHANDISE AWARD

“Terp Thon uses merchandise as a way to express and raise awareness for the organization and participants. It acts as a way for people to proudly show their support of the organization. Year after year, Terp Thon establishes a Brand Campaign to highlight their overall goals for the year. In a year where morale was low, Terp Thon strove to be a positive aspect of people’s lives. This past year, our Brand Campaign was “Be Brave. Be Bright. Be The Light.” This carried over into our merchandise goals, as we used this in a multitude of different designs in order to Be The Light for our participants. A specific merchandise order that features our yearly slogan is the Brand Campaign Long Sleeve, which is sold to all members of the Terp Thon community.

One struggle with merchandise that Terp Thon addressed very early on was how we planned on getting items to participants, as the University of Maryland’s campus was operating almost completely virtually. We established an idea for Dance Marathon in a Box as a way we could give our participants incentives for their hard work and contributions over the last year in a safe way, due to the pandemic. These boxes featured all of our traditional items, such as the participant’s event t-shirt, hospital band, and more. The items inside each individual box were dependent on the fundraising level each participant achieved. Dance Marathon in a Box allowed our participants to bring Terp Thon home with them and be involved with our Brand Campaign. Each individual’s box featured a tea light which participants kept on for the full 12-hours of the event in hopes it would remind them to Be The Light.

Terp Thon also uses merchandise as a recognition item for our Planning Team members and participants who go above and beyond throughout the year. For our internal planning team, we have Terp Thon Leadership Circle (TTLC). These members can earn points for various numbers of activities, such as being Member of the Month or recruiting new participants. Our top members were gifted an exclusive TTLC t-shirt. This really helped to encourage more Planning Team members to be more involved. On an external level, we have our 500 Club T-Shirts which were given to any participant who raised $500 or more. The 500 Club T-Shirts were even put into the Dance Marathon in a Box in order to reduce the need for shipping or extra pickups.

This year was different, and Terp Thon adapted our merchandise goals accordingly. In a year where we were not physically together, Terp Thon was able to use merchandise to form a bond between the organization and every participant, no matter the distance.”