EXEC LETTER: TANNER BERNHARD

Where Are Your Donations Going?

How does my donation help the kids? Where is this money going? What kids? Where are these kids? What hospital? We spend an entire year raising money for the kids. We ask friends and family for donations; some of us will even get on stage and lip sync in front of the entire student union for a date auction if it means we are helping the kids. But do you know where that money is going? Well, let me tell you. I promise everything that UNI Dance Marathon raises goes to help kids with life threatening illness at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital in Iowa City. UNI Dance Marathon’s goal is to help local kids; and our donations go to help the kids treated at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital because it is the closest Children’s Miracle Network hospital. If you have not yet heard, currently a new $360 million University of Iowa Children’s Hospital is being built overlooking Kinnick Stadium in the heart of Iowa City. The hospital is expected to be finished this summer and will be a 14-story state of the art pediatric hospital. This new hospital is being funded completely through bonds, hospital revenue, and private donations. Raising $360 million is no small task. Well, this is where you come in. You have the opportunity to step in and saves millions of kiddos lives for many years to come by helping in completing this new top of the line hospital. Dance Marathon programs across Iowa have devoted money to this new hospital and UNI Dance Marathon is no exception. UNI Dance Marathon has pledged $500,000 (that’s right…half a million dollars) to be used toward the construction of the new hospital. So what does this mean? Well, with this contribution UNI Dance Marathon will sponsor a Operating Room and Parent Respite Lounge in the new University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. Contributing to this new hospital means we are helping save kids lives everyday – which is exactly what the Dance Marathon Movement is all about. We are “this generation, fighting for the next,” so remember the money you raise has a purpose and a need, you are helping save a kiddos life. So thank you Dancers, Morale Captains, Committee Members, Executive Board Members, and donors for all that you do to help us reach our goal!