Celebrating our Miracles Recap

Before returning to campus for the 2021 spring semester, Dance Marathon at FSU challenged all participants to bring in the new year with a fundraising push. “Celebrating our Miracles” was a ten-day-long virtual event between December 27th and January 5th. Students were asked to raise $100 in those ten days in an effort to support ten different beneficiaries. The recognized beneficiaries include: Young Parents Project, FSU Early Head Start, Gadsden County School-Based Clinic, Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, Big Bend Hospice, Bond Community Health Center, Infant and Child Medical Music Therapy Program, and the FSU Primary Health Facility.

Through social media, Dance Marathon was able to keep everyone safely engaged and informed, "Over the next ten days, we'll be highlighting a different program which has benefitted from DM at FSU dollars in the past year!" Each social media post highlighted different aspects of what each organization does and how they help the community around them. Participants can also read how the money they raise is specifically helping fund programs and tools used by the beneficiaries.

As an organization whose main goal is to raise money and give back to those in need, these beneficiaries are just some of the many people impacted by the work that we do. The Young Parents Project (YPP) is one of our many beneficiaries. This organization helps provide aid to teens who are pregnant, parents, or court-involved. This YPP helps to serve teens in Leon and its surrounding counties.

Bond Community Health Center, located here in Tallahassee, is another one of our beneficiaries. With the money raised, we help Bond Community Health Center complete its mission of providing help to people and families of a lower socioeconomic status. Our efforts aid in the ability to provide medical aid to these families as well as financial aid for the Health Center and its employees.

Big Bend Hospice is an organization that also benefits from the funds that Dance Marathon at FSU provides. They focus on making a positive impact on individuals and the community who have experienced serious illness or grief. The Youth Bereavement Services Division offers grief support groups in schools through Leon and surrounding counties, as well as monthly children and teen nights.

Our movement is also proud to give back to our local Tallahassee community, with 50% of the total fundraised, supporting FSU's College of Medicine Pediatric Outreach programs. An aspect of this program is the Gadsden County School-Based Clinic, another one of our beneficiaries. With the money that we raised within the past 14 years, we have supported one full-time nurse practitioner and one part-time nurse practitioner, which directly impact the children and the community that they serve.

Dance Marathon at FSU is able to have a direct impact on children and the community they are a part of, because of our donors and fundraisers. At the end of the ten days, we had 368 active fundraisers, with 75 fundraisers crushing our challenge of $100! And we are celebrating each and every one.