FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Volunteers with Arkansas Dance Marathon will come together yet again, to make miracles happen for Northwest Arkansas children in need of medical care.
The non-profit organization, run by University of Arkansas students, raises money to benefit Arkansas Children’s Northwest‘ (ACNW), the U of A’s local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital (CMN).
In addition to year-round fundraising efforts, Dance Marathon volunteers hold an annual eight-hour dance marathon as a final push to get more donations.
“We basically spend all year promoting what Arkansas Children’s does and CMN comes to our campus by allowing students to get involved through different events, where they get to meet families and hear their stories,” said Shelby Shields, Arkansas Dance Marathon’s president.
While the event is typically a time for donors to dance, eat and get to meet the kids who have benefitted from ACNW in person, this year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, it’ll be going virtual.
“We’re going to have different components using our social media, as well as different zooms, so that way we can still get our participants to be involved with families from the hospital as well as being interactive with each other,” Shelby said.
Since 2015, student volunteers have raised more than $200,000 for ACNW.
