TigerThon Doubles Donation from Previous Year

TigerThon participants holding a sign showing the final amount of fund raised
(photo by Ian Nielsen)

By Ian Nielsen

The second annual TigerThon raised more than $14,600, doubling the $7,213 raised last year. The fundraising culminated in a five-hour-long dance marathon event on Saturday, held in the Calgaard Gym.

The event alone raised $10,150, exceeding its fundraising goal. Plus money raised before the event, TigerThon was able to set the new record. All proceeds go directly to the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio.

Eight-year-old Jagger was one of several children representing the hospital at the event. He was busy playing games, dancing and getting to know people. “It’s people like you that make things possible for families at the hospital,” Jagger’s mother told the crowd during a dance break.

“Last year we raised around $7,000 and our goal was $5,000,” said Joseph Anderson, a Trinity junior set to be a TigerThon executive next year. “We’re already past our goal this year and hopefully we can reach $15,000 worth of donations for next year.”

The fund raising didn’t just happen during the event, but was a months-long effort. Trophies were awarded to the top contributors of this year’s fundraiser, with freshman Jenny Rudnicki raising over $2,000 individually and the TigerThon executive team raising over $8,000 together.

A total of 189 people participated in this year’s fundraising, and many of them came to Calgaad Gym on Saturday to enjoy ping pong, cornhole, giant jenga, dancing and other activities.

Trinity students and faculty, representing organizations from fraternities and sororities to stand band, participated in the dance marathon while listening to the stories of families who had benefited from donations to the children’s hospital.

Rapper Kiev’s live performance kicked off the event, followed by an hour of competition between on-campus organizations, including a three-legged race, marshmallow and Oreo eating. Dancing continued with performance of the Loon-E Crew and the Prowlers Dance team.

The festivities lasted from early afternoon into the evening, and finally concluded with an hour of rave music and more dancing with the help of a DJ, dimmed lights, and glow-in-the-dark paint.

“I thought it was fun,” said junior Connor Linguist. “It is always cool to be involved in something that does so much good.”

TigerThon is part of the larger movement, Miracle Network Dance Marathon, whose primary goal is to generate donations for local Children’s Miracle Network hospitals. The movement began in 1991 with a group of students from Indiana University whose friend, Ryan White, died of HIV/AIDS. Since then it has grown every year to include around 350 schools that raise money for 170 pediatric hospitals across the country. As of 2015, over $25 million has been raised per year.