March 15, 2015

By Whitney Matewe

The seventh annual MizzouThon had another successful record-breaking year as dancers rallied to continue raising funds for the MU Children’s Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit throughout the 13.1 hours in the MU Student Recreational Complex.

More than 900 dancers registered to participate in the dance marathon this year. Each aimed to raise at least $100 in donations prior to the event so they could participate.

MizzouThon had 14 Miracle Families and their 20 Miracle Kids take part this year, with the dancers each divided into teams supporting and dancing on behalf of the 20 Miracle Kids.

For the grand total of funds donated this year, MizzouThon raked in — drum roll please — $201,322.68, [beating last year’s previous record of $176,290.55](http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2014/3/11/dance-marathon-breaks-fundraising-record/).

The money was raised through a variety of fundraising efforts including canning, donor pages, donating/cutting hair, writing letters and other creative ways to get donations.

A group of freshmen from Schurz Hall, part of Team Wyatt, shared that their fundraising efforts included a lot of canning and even a bake sale.

This year’s money raised marks the first batch of donations as part of the $1,000,000 pledge MizzouThon has planned for the next five years going toward renovating the NICU at MU Children’s Hospital.

“It was just a really good place to have our money going; it seemed like almost all our families have been in that NICU at some point. It’s just a good place to have a large impact,” said Erin Ehlers, MizzonThon vice president of logistics. “It’s just really rewarding to see all these families, and actually make a real difference. It’s definitely worth it, and once you start getting involved it’s addicting; you wanna keep going. I can’t imagine my life without it.”