This past Saturday, on February 15th, Hammond successfully hosted its eighth annual Dance Marathon. The marathon lasted from 12 to 8 pm. As always, the goal was to raise money for the Prisma Health Children’s Hospital. Hammond’s Dance Marathon is one of the several schools that host a mini marathon in conjunction with the University of South Carolina.  The committee members worked for months with the University of South Carolina Dance Marathon members to plan and fundraise for the event. The event was a huge success, and it was truly exciting and surprising when the total was revealed at the end of the night. The committee ended up raising over $60,000 for the children’s hospital, surpassing their initial goal of $40,000.  This year’s Dance Marathon set a new record for money raised by a mini-marathon!

The Dance Marathon was led this year by, seniors, Federica Hall, Mary Fleming Finlay, and Joanna Stephens under the guidance of Mrs. Fowler. The chairs, along with the rest of the committee members, did a splendid job of organizing various fundraising events prior to the marathon, to encourage people to contribute to the cause. These included the Hammond 5K run and the Powderpuff game. In addition to these activities, the Bake-A-Difference club hosted various holiday bake sales and committee members sold candygrams in order to raise money.  The goal from all of these events was to raise awareness and get students involved in the fundraising process.

The theme for the event was sports and was accordingly filled with many engaging activities, including watching the Alumni Soccer game which took place during the main event. The event was filled with many fun games where students were divided up into teams and competed at games like shooting basketball three pointers and playing dodgeball. Throughout the event, Morale committee members led and taught the line dance routines they had choreographed. Two Miracle families—Keldon Hemingway and Ellington Hewitt visited the event and briefly spoke about their experiences with the children’s hospital and child life support.

Overall, this Dance Marathon was a major success. According to Joanna Stephens, one of the chairs for the event, “Dance Marathon is one of those incredibly special things that works because everyone is a part of it. Whether they are hanging up signs or buying a candygram, there’s a way for everybody to get involved. That sense of community is inspiring to witness, and I’m beyond grateful to Hammond for the opportunity for all of us to work together with the aim of giving kids hope.”  This just demonstrates the sense of community and service that Dance Marathon brings to Hammond through the truly incredible goal of helping the kids.