By: John David Barnett
Student Involvement Student Writer
On February 17, 2024, Auburn University Dance Marathon (AUDM) hosted their 13th annual Main Event to cap off a fantastic year of fundraising for Children’s Miracle Network (CMN). Main Event serves two key purposes each year. It is a 12-hour long celebration of the incredible hard work AUDM’s members and participants put in throughout the year, and it is a literal fundraising marathon, seizing every minute as a chance to build onto the total amount raised for the 23-24 season.
The culmination of Main Event was the grand number flip, when a group consisting of AUDM’s executive staff members, biggest fundraisers and most active members revealed the entire year’s earnings, digit by digit. This year the signs read $356,036.24, the highest donation total since 2019.
While AUDM’s main event is the focal point of the fundraising efforts, the students involved spend all year on the planning and fundrasing program efforts. AUDM’s 2023-2024 President Ashton Hill, senior in philanthropy and nonprofit studies, offered key insight into how the organization prepared for what some may see as a daunting task.
“The spring is a lot of planning for the most part,” Hill began. “Last March, we did our new executive team transitions and had our executive team retreat. That’s when we picked out a bunch of the event dates for later that year. After that we interviewed for our director, assistant director and half of our Morale staff positions. We did the other half in the fall so freshmen have an opportunity to join.”
AUDM’s slogan is always an important part of setting the tone for a new fundraising cycle. Hill recounted how this year’s slogan, I Believe In Miracles, resulted from AUDM’s executive staff emphasizing the value they wanted to place on relationships and traditions.
“Relationships and traditions make up so much of the Auburn Family, and AUDM is a family,” Hill said. “We talked about shouting out the Creed in the slogan, and we knew how it repeated the phrase ‘I believe.’ And then we thought it would be fun to incorporate the miracle aspect of Children’s Miracle Network. So that’s how we got ‘I Believe in Miracles.’”
This spring phase of preparation was not only crucial for putting together a perfect Main Event, but it was an opportunity for AUDM to set their sights onto the greater purpose of this philanthropy.
“Children’s Miracle Network was founded to help fundraise for local childrens hospitals,” Hill said. “CMN has 170 different partnered hospitals across North America. Our hospital specifically, Piedmont Columbus Regional, is a new standalone children’s hospital and would not be possible without CMN.”
The scale of Main Event on Auburn’s campus is already massive, but imagine 170 organizations like AUDM across North America holding similar events all for their community’s local children’s hospital. Millions of dollars get funneled into this cause, providing resources and equipment for hospitals and financial support to families. The entire philanthropy effort is a true network of miracles.
A key part of the preparation necessary for Main Event are AUDM’s push weeks. From recruitment push weeks, which focused on registering Main Event participants for a $15 fee, to more targeted fundraising push weeks that emphasized donations, AUDM was out and active on the concourse, engaging with students.
Hill emphasized the importance of push weeks as times that AUDM can get key information to the campus community and engage in fundraising efforts. When participant registration was over, and preparation was completed, the time finally came for Main Event. AUDM was more than prepared.
The Student Center Ballroom was transformed into an unrecognizable event space, filled with neon lighting, extravagent balloon arches, engaging photo booths and a huge open space in the middle of the floor offering plenty of dancing room. The capacity for dancing is always a must for AUDM, and this year was no different.
A jam-packed schedule, from 10AM to 10PM, left no time in the day for energy lulls. Adrenaline was rising and the donation total was rising even higher. An array of special guests pumped energy into the crowd, from Miss Auburn University to the Tiger Rhythm Dance Team. Awards and special recognitions were also plentiful, highlighting the efforts of many deserving recipients.
The most heartwarming moments came from the Miracle kids and their families. These special guests of honor are direct beneficiaries of the work AUDM puts in throughout the year, and are a representation of what CMN is doing across the continent.
“I loved hearing the families speak,” Morale staff member Gabby Campos, junior in nursing, said. “Seeing how the program has not only affected our organization but those families is awesome. It’s beautiful to see that all of our hard work does go to something bigger and greater than us.”
After such a memorable 2024 Main Event, the AUDM students will celebrate while also turning the focus to next year. There are big shoes to fill, but AUDM has limitless potential. Those limits were tested during the pandemic and the years of rebuilding that have followed.
“We were able to fundraise over $500,000 at one point in our organization’s history, so we are just working our way to get back up to that,” Hill said. “The pandemic really had an effect on donation numbers, so we are really reestablishing that foundation.”
This Main Event culminated in the largest donation total since COVID began affecting programming. In recognition of these trials, it is fair to say that AUDM is on course to build an even bigger campaign cycle next year that ends in an even better number flip.
As the 2023-2024 AUDM team passes on the torch, they have ensured the flame shines bright. Hill offered some words of encouragement that should be helpful to those crossing the marathon’s finish line in 2025.
“Love it all. There is good and there is bad in the year that will all happen, but it’s all part of the growing process,” Hill said. “Main Event always comes together in the end, and it all works out the way it’s supposed to. Celebrate the staff and celebrate each other because you can’t do it without your team.”