Hundreds of MU students danced for 13.1 hours in MizzouThon’s main event on Saturday to raise money FTK, or for the kids. This year’s grand total of $307,543.80 was up from last year’s $304,604.63.
MizzouThon is a year-round organization that raises money and gives emotional support to pediatric patients in central Missouri. The funds raised go to programs such as the MU Women’s and Children’s Hospital’s TeleHealth Loving Care program, music therapy program, Cancer and Blood Disorders unit and providing salaries for teachers who help hospitalized kids keep up with school.
“I honestly never really felt tired during the 13.1 hours,” said Andrew Gammon, MizzouThon’s morale co-captain. “Having 105 leadership members around at all times to encourage one another to keep going and keep up the energy was an amazing tool to have. That, along with feeding off the energy of the 700-plus dancers, was more than enough to keep me going through the event without thought of slowing down. It’s honestly like the longest continuous runner’s high imaginable.”
The main event took place at MizzouRec from noon to approximately 1:30 a.m. Sunday. The participants, many of which from the Greek community and residential halls, had the chance to partake in multiple activities including meeting the Miracle Kids, pediatric patients in mid-Missouri supported yearlong by MizzouThon.
Activities included dancing to an array of music from Disney classics to ‘70s hits, an auction tent with pieces of art created by the Miracle Kids and an arts and crafts tent to face paint and decorate T-shirts. There was basketball, bowling, a bounce house, ice cream and so much more.
Participants wore different colored shirts showing their support of the specific child who they partnered with through Adopt-A-Family, a program allowing organizations to gain personal relationships with children throughout the year.
As the children were introduced onstage throughout the event, their partnered Adopt-A-Family organizations cheered from the crowd.
The fundraising total was revealed number by number at the end of the event.
“When I rewatch the reveal video you can hear two seperate waves of screaming: one when they revealed the 0 and one when they revealed the 3,” Gammon said. “I don’t think I have ever uttered a scream so loud or hugged anyone so hard as I did in that moment. It honestly seemed like a lifetime between when they raised the 0 and the 3, but when they did and everyone in the crowd erupted it was one of the most beautiful moments of my life.”
_Edited by Alexandra Sharp | asharp@themaneater.com_
