Exactly 100 days from today, thousands of participants will gather in Ackerman Grand Ballroom for Dance Marathon, a 26 hour-long event where participants raise funds for research and treatment options for pediatric AIDS/HIV patients.
To help publicize the event, organizers will be at the Westwood Brewing Co. this evening to inform potential dancers about Dance Marathon and how to register. The event will feature a musical performance by the all-men’s a cappella group Bruin Harmony, games, skits and giveaways, said Danny Cowan, the executive director for Dance Marathon.
Organizers of Dance Marathon will also be giving away six airline tickets to students, courtesy of JetBlue Airways.
The event is part of a bigger push by organizers to get students to register early, before the Dec. 5 deadline, Cowan said. By registering early, students save $10 on the registration fee, he added.
On Wednesday, organizers walked around campus holding two enlarged one-dollar bills, one quarter and a dime. The money, which was made out of poster board materials, represented the $2.35 that students have to raise every day for Dance Marathon if they start raising Thursday, said Natalie Knight, the publicity director for Dance Marathon.
Knight said she thought the event was pretty successful, though she added that she got a few strange looks when she walked around with music blasting from her iHome, an iPod dock with speakers.
“People were curious, I think. So that’s good,” she said, adding that the point was to draw attention to their cause.
The funds raised by Dance Marathon are donated to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and to two camps that help children immediately affected by AIDS/HIV, said Portia Seautelle, the special events chair for Dance Marathon.
She said Dance Marathon helps bring attention to a group of people affected by AIDS/HIV that normally goes unnoticed: children. She said children with AIDS are still viewed with the same stigma as adults, though they are often born with the disease and struggle to understand why they’re stigmatized.
The goal of Dance Marathon, she said, was to let others know this.
“It’s not their fault and they should have the same opportunities as every other child,” she said.