The University of Alabama’s Dance Marathon, a student-run philanthropy that raises money for the Children’s Hospital of Alabama, will culminate its year-long fundraising efforts in a 10-hour standing only event Saturday.

Although the Dance Marathon is UADM’s biggest event, there is much more to the organization. Katie Klootwyk, president of UADM, said the purpose of UADM is to enrich the lives of children suffering from cancer and other pediatric diseases.

“We do this by adopting these children and their families into our UADM family,” Klootwyk said. “We also try to help them fund their expensive hospital visits and equipment by fundraising as much money as possible for an entire year and donating it to Children’s of Alabama hospital.”

(See also “UA Dance Marathon hosts Chipotle fundraiser“)

Although raising money is the group’s ultimate goal because it has the most potential to help, recruitment overall chair Rachel Coleman said UADM members also make an effort to spend time with the children.

“By spending time with these kids throughout the year and on the day of, that’s what really makes it all come to life. This year we got to be a part of the hospital’s trick-or-treat day and handed out toys to hundreds of kids,” Coleman said. “UADM had a Dip-N-Dots event for the kids and the families, and we also hosted an event celebrating Thanksgiving with them.”

Since its start in 2011, Dance Marathon has continued to grow on campus.

“Our recruitment numbers have gone up along with the amount of money raised,” Klootwyk said. “In total, we have raised a little over $70,000 throughout the course of the last two years.”

Caroline Bechtel, UADM operations and finance overall chair, said UADM has exceeded goals and expectations by a huge margin.

(See also “Philanthropy just one example of fraternal integrity“)

“Dance Marathon has always beaten our expectations and goals by a huge margin. In our first year, we raised almost 50 percent more than our goal and in our second year, 100 percent more,” Bechtel said. “We have a large retention rate of dancers coming back year after year. We are excited for UADM to be a tradition at The University of Alabama.”

The 2014 event will held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“We have around 600 people registered and definitely expect more to be registered by the day of. We have around 12 Miracle Families that we are supporting this year, and almost all will be there to tell their amazing stories at Dance Marathon,” Coleman said. “We’ll laugh, we’ll cry, and we’ll eat a lot. It’s hard to actually express what the day of Dance Marathon is exactly like. This is something you just have to experience for yourself.”

(See also “Students help with lake clean-up“)