By KELLY KULTYS
NEWS EDITOR
Hill and Whiteaker hope that FDM can eventually become an established Fordham tradition, such as Under the Tent or ‘Thon’ at Penn State University. (Ram Archives)
Dancing to donate? That is the goal of the newest addition to Residence Halls Association’s (RHA) Series of Fortunate Events.
Fordham Dance Marathon (FDM) is a new, 10-hour-long dance-a-thon, where participants in teams of six to 10 can show off their best dance moves, watch student performances and spend time with their friends all while donating to charity. RHA announced earlier this week that FDM would be the kickoff event for its charity month, Series of Fortunate Events.
This year, Alex Whiteaker, FCRH ’14, RHA vice president and Sarah Hill, GSB ’14, RHA president, decided they wanted to try something different to attract a large number of students.
“It will hopefully be our biggest event outside of the auction,” Whiteaker said. “It will be our big push to get everything going for February.”
The two hope that FDM can get many members of the community together, to help support the B+ (Be Positive) Foundation.
“There’s two very important things that this event has,” Whiteaker said. “First, it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a great time, something obnoxious, in your face, different for 10 hours on a Friday, something unprecedented. And, second, it is a way to help people. It is something to better the environment and better their lives. Everything we can do here will be bettering [the pediatric cancer] cause. It is an event by the students, but for these kids.”
B+ is a charity dedicated to raising money to help the children and family affected by pediatric cancer.
According to Hill, only four percent of charity funds for cancer go to pediatrics.
“One hundred percent of the money fundraised by student organizations goes directly to the B+ mission, which is to help fund pediatric cancer research as well as help the families affected by pediatric cancer,” Hill said. “We think that their mission is a very strong one and they were also started by a dad. They’re all about being there.”
Hill and Whiteaker said that RHA has had a long-standing relationship with the group, especially after meeting with one of the organization’s representatives last semester.
“She [the representative] told us about the [University of] Delaware one and how successful it was and so then we started about it in terms of Fordham,” Hill said.
That is what sparked the idea of FDM. According to Hill, Blackout Cancer has had a similar event in the past, but FDM will be unique in comparison, due to the event’s scale.
“We’ve already gotten confirmation from CSA, USG and we’re waiting on CAB but we’re pretty sure we have their commitment,” Hill said. “Alex sent out an email to all the formal clubs and organizations on campus, which amounts to about 96, I think. But we’re also looking to branch out and contact the athletic organization, the alumni association and the President’s Council. We’re having more performance groups. We’re having more sponsorships.”
Hill said her group is even reaching out to members beyond the Fordham community, such as Coca-Cola, which RHA has had a strong relationship with in the past.
Hill and Whiteaker said that another goal of theirs, besides raising the money for pediatric cancer patients and research, is to establish FDM as another Fordham tradition, similar to some of their other events, such as Under the Tent.
“It’s something that we’re hoping will go to be a tradition for Fordham, kind of like Thon is at Penn State,” Hill said.
More information for students to sign up or learn more is available at http://www.beposfdn.org/fdm14/.
