The community that drives DanceBlue is one of its most powerful aspects. DanceBlue strives to create a sense of community on the University of Kentucky’s campus by welcoming any individual on campus to get involved in some capacity with our student-run organization benefitting the DanceBlue Kentucky Children’s Hospital Hematology/Oncology Clinic.
The DanceBlue community can be experienced at the dance marathon held in the Spring semester. It is the culmination of a year of hard work. On the floor, over a hundred teams/student organizations are represented and around a thousand individuals can be seen standing and dancing for 24 hours. The DanceBlue community goes beyond our students too.
At the marathon, we have the privilege of recognizing high school students that host mini marathons throughout the state of Kentucky. We have over 20 mini marathons held at elementary, middle and high schools. These schools hold dance marathon events very similar to ours, where the proceeds benefit DanceBlue. It is powerful to see the entire state getting behind this cause, especially the youth. In addition to the investment of students, we are fortunate enough to have several corporate sponsors committing to our cause. For DanceBlue 2017, we were privileged to welcome 34 corporate sponsors to our DanceBlue community. Seeing all of the different groups on the floor along with DanceBlue’s supporters is such an incredible site representing the unity of an entire campus and one community all For the Kids.
The driving forces behind the DanceBlue community are the patients and families that the organization serves. The purpose is to create a community so that those enduring hardships do not have to endure them alone. Our goal is to ease the pain as much as we can, through raising money to assist the clinic and families in various ways, such as hiring a Child Life Specialist or helping to pay for gas cards for our families that travel. We also value personal relationships and connections and hope to bring smiles and laughter to these patients and families through conversations or playing games, but we all know they are the ones that constantly bring joy to our lives. We are so fortunate to know the most resilient and beautiful fighters. Together, we can continue to build a community of love and support for the kids that we are serving. We all dance FTK, “For the Kids.”
The wholeness of this organization can be seen today on campus at Elena’s Lemonade Stand, which is ran by a patient from our clinic and his family, who have contributed thousands of dollars to DanceBlue throughout the years. Be sure to stop by to pick up some tasty treats while donating to this cause!
