Students show off their best dance moves in the final hours of last year's DemonTHON. The event raised $274,887, surpassing the $1 million mark over five years of fundraising. (DePaul University/Deanna Williams)Staying awake for 24 hours is no easy task. If you add standing and dancing to those 24 hours without a break, the challenge becomes even more exhausting. But for DePaul students participating in DemonTHON, the feat is invigorating.
At 5 p.m. on April 28, the sixth annual DemonTHON will begin, and students from organizations across campus will stand together to raise money for Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.
The DemonTHON organization was recently named one of the fastest growing dance marathons of all time by Children's Miracle Network Hospitals for reaching a cumulative total of $1 million in five years of existence. Last year, the event raised an impressive $257,877.77, the most ever in the organization's history.
As an organization that strives to bring the student population together for one universal cause, DemonTHON receives support from across the university, including its highest ranks. This year, DePaul's president, the Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., is supporting the event by joining the student body and raising funds through DemonTHON's fundraising website, Donor Drive.
"Every year, it makes me extremely proud to see our students raising funds to care for sick children at one of the most distinguished children's hospitals in America," Fr. Holtschneider says. "I'm happy to join our students in support of their fundraising goal so that deserving patients can receive the best care possible."
DemonTHON consists of a ten-minute dance that occurs every hour, games to keep participants alert and awake, and the meaningful stories from families who have been touched by the hospital. All of these components come together for an event that is powerful and moving.
Individuals interested in learning more about DemonTHON are welcome to attend the event as a visitor. DemonTHON 2017 begins at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 28, and ends 24 hours later at 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 29. The event concludes with an hour-long dance party followed by the fundraising reveal for 2017.
DemonTHON brings together a broad community of students focused on enacting the Vincentian values found at the core of DePaul University. All funds raised go to Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. This year's event will take place on April 28-29. (DePaul University/Jamie Moncrief)