By Julia DiVincnezo;
Mosaic Staff Writer,
Coordinators of Salve Regina’s first-ever dance marathon to benefit Hasbro Children’s Hospital held a marathon kick-off last Thursday, to raise awareness and encourage people to sign up for the event.The marathon will take place in Feb. 23 and 24 in Ochre Court and will entail students staying on their feet for eighteen hours to raise money for the hospital.The kick-off began with two speakers: head coordinator and student Kelly Kern ’15, and Carly Blossom, the director of the Children’s Miracle Network Program at the Hasbro Children’s Hospital. Both women spoke about what to expect on the night of the event and what the marathon will do for the hospital and its families. “Everyone at the hospital is so excited for this event to happen!” said Blossom.This event will be the first of its kind to be held in benefit of the Hasbro Children’s Hospital, and so it is garnering a lot of interest and enthusiasm from the Salve community.
There to meet students on Thursday night was a little girl named Nicki, who is a fourth grader and patient at the hospital.
A member of the Dance Marathon’s Event Operations committee, Caroline Chenard ’15, expressed happiness with the night’s turnout. She said that it gained them 30 more sign ups than they had gotten from the registration tables that were set up on campus in past weeks.
Chenard commented that so far, they’ve raised almost $900 for the cause. The raised money will not only benefit the hospital, but it will also improve and save lives for families in the state of Rhode Island. “We got to take a tour of the hospital and it was cool to see things that needed improving, because that’s what our money could go towards”, said Chenard.
Chelsea Morelli, ’14 says she decided to participate in the dance marathon after receiving an invite on Facebook. “I’d never heard of it before, but knew I wanted to do it when I saw that it was for kids in the hospital,” said Morelli. “I want to go into art therapy for the same thing, so this is the perfect type of event for me.”
Morelli also claimed that she thinks dancing for eighteen hours will be fairly easy, since there will be so many activities and families there to occupy the time.
Salve’s Dance Marathon is being held February 23 and 24 in Ochre Court, with games, crafts, food, and children from the hospital. Registration to be apart of this great event costs just $10 to sign up, and participants must raise $40 to dance.
Sign-up tables will be located in O’Hare and Miley next week, or you can register online. For more information, be sure to visit the Salve Dance Marathon Facebook page.
