A Shameless Pat on My Back

Last night, I participated in one of my favorite philanthropic events: the University of Oregon's Dance Marathon, a 15-hour dance party to raise money for the Children's Miracle Network. This incredibly worthy cause provides funding to hospitals (in our case, Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene and Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland) to buy equipment for their neo-natal intensive care units. Local families who have benefited from the services that CMN provides came to DM and shared their incredible stories. One set of twin boys ran circles around their mother onstage as she told of their heart failure and teensy size as a result of their 3-months-too-early birth. Without the CMN-funded equipment, they would not have survived.

Here is the promotional video the DM crew made of last year's event, the first ever event of its kind on the Oregon campus.


Last year, I wore jeans and flip flops, had a great time, ended up exhausted, and helped raise $17,800.
This year, I wore workout shorts and tennis shoes, had an amazing time, ended up with blisters and a stiff back, and helped raise $32,000-- and the money is still coming in!

I woke up at 6:30 am to make it to my 7:15 check-in time, and pretty much didn't stop moving until midnight. If you think I was actually dancing uninhibited the whole time... well, you're close to correct. First, everyone learns the Morale Dance, a big line dance that is performed once an hour, partially to keep track of the hours and partially to get everyone doing the same thing at once to, you guessed it, boost morale. Here is a practice video of this year's dance:


Different DJs played sets, dance instructors taught us how to salsa and waltz, three different UO dance teams performed, a high school a capella group sang, and we played various games. But in between all of that, we were dancing and dancing and dancing. The only time I sat was when I was going to the bathroom and when I was putting Band-Aids on my feet to prevent blisters. (That didn't work.) I may be sore today, but getting together with a huge group of people for such a great cause was a blast. I felt so proud when they announced the total at the end of the night, because I know that all of that money is going directly into my community. Plus, I can never turn down a dance party.

Now where's my Advil?