Update Feb. 26, 2025
At 11 p.m. Feb. 22, the time had come for the “flip” — the culmination of a year of hard work for the University of South Carolina Dance Marathon Team.
Student leaders took the stage at the USC Wellness and Fitness Center and revealed cards with numbers one at a time until all were lifted high, unveiling the year’s fundraising total to help support Prisma Health Children’s Hospital. The crowd of more than 1,000 students and supporters read each number aloud in unison, then erupted in cheers for the total: $652,928.
"I am forever changed by this cause and these people,” 2024-25 USC Dance Marathon president Mary Brooks Wilson says. “Because we united together for tomorrow, 652,928 miracles were made possible for so many local kids.”
The students who volunteer to be part of Dance Marathon at the University of South Carolina come from all over the world, with different majors, different backgrounds. But what they have in common is simple: It all comes down to love.
“Everyone has such pure intentions behind what they're doing and is very passionate about the cause. Finding a like-minded group of people that care about something bigger than themselves and really want to give back and make an impact is probably my favorite part,” says Izzy Yoos, an elementary education major serving as vice president of community relations this year for USC Dance Marathon.
Dance Marathon is the university’s largest student-run philanthropic organization, and in 26 years has raised more than $9 million for Prisma Health Children’s Hospital. The theme for 2024-25 is “Together For Tomorrow,” with the Main Event set for Feb. 22.
“I'm from Kansas City, so I didn't know anyone when I came here. Personalities are so different, but this group is full of like-minded people, just values-based and priorities-based,” says nursing student Merideth O’Donnell, this year’s vice president of miracle relations. “When you come into Dance Marathon, someone has prioritized this at least enough to give a couple hours of their week. So you always have a baseline where y'all can connect and share a passion and a love for kids and for providing a better future for the next generation.”
More than 100 students, all volunteers, work year-round on the Dance Marathon staff to raise awareness and money, as well as supporting past and present patients at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital and their families, known as Miracle Kids and Miracle Families. That support is led by O’Donnell and her team.
“Every Friday we do an activity day. Each hospital floor has a playroom and we'll ask some members of Dance Marathon to go into the playrooms and hang out and visit with the patients that are in treatment,” O’Donnell says. “We also help them with holiday parties and parades and things as simple as making cards for the kids. We really try to connect every member of the USCDM community to the hospital in some way.”
The Dance Marathon year peaks with the Main Event at the Wellness and Fitness Center. The USCDM staff will lead a 14-hour celebration and final fundraising push, culminating with the “flip,” as staff leaders hold up cards revealing the amount of money raised to support the cause. The students brought in $715,107 in 2023-24 and have topped the $1 million mark in past years.
Miracle Families will be on hand to share their stories, as more than 1,000 USC students join to do their part. Tasked with keeping the energy high throughout the long day is Morale, a group of 100 students divided into teams who teach a line dance they created for the event. Nursing student Lucy Eckbert is one of this year’s team captains and will be one of the busiest people in the Wellness and Fitness Center.
“We’ll have our tent decorated, a banner painted for it. We have to come up with a plan for how we're going to fundraise during the main event while also teaching the line dance or hanging out with Miracle families,” she says. “It's a lot of multitasking during the day for me, because I'm not only in charge of my fundraising or whatever I'm doing, but also supporting the 14 people on my team.”
The Dance Marathon staff members all have their own reasons for giving so much of their time to the cause. For those in leadership positions, it can be a full-time job at times. No one complains. For some, like Yoos, it’s personal.
Yoos was born with a rare condition that led to her spending a lot of her early life at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. The Child Life program there had a tremendous impact on her family.
“My older sisters were old enough to realize what was going on, and the Child Life team was able to explain things in a way that was digestible. They made it more approachable in a child-friendly way,” she says.
Her mom started a nonprofit called the Family Life Fund to support Pittsburgh’s Child Life program. As Yoos would learn when the time came to think about college, the Child Life program at Prisma Health Children's Hospital is supported by USC Dance Marathon.
“That's very much why I wanted to get involved and stay in it and encourage other people to do it and get our message out to everyone I can,” Yoos says.
The hours are long. But they keep going, because they believe in the cause. They love the Miracle Kids they are helping, and they love each other. They let those kids and their families know they do not have to go through the hard times alone, and they let each other know it, too.
“Dance Marathon truly at its core brings out the best in you,” Eckbert says. “We're a bunch of college students who think it's cool to fundraise for a local children's hospital. I mean, that's incredible. You feel like you're really making an impact and helping people that really need it. I'm privileged to have my health and to be the person that I am, so why can't I use that to help someone who really needs it?”
Learn more
To learn more about University of South Carolina Dance Marathon and to donate to support the cause, visit the Dance Marathon website.