Members of the Texas A&M community gathered on March 3 at the Aggie Dance Marathon to stand and dance for the kids who can’t and to celebrate those who do.
Aggie Miracle, a non profit organization, raised $203,653.29 over the course of 12 months for the McLane’s Children Hospital in Temple, Texas. The amount was revealed at the annual Aggie Dance Marathon, a 12 hour event in which the organization does a final fundraising push while continuing to bring awareness for the Children’s Miracle Network.
According to Maci Hanson, biomedical sciences senior and executive director of Aggie Miracle , 100 percent of the proceeds that are raised by Aggie Miracle goes back to McLane’s Hospital. Currently, the money is being held to help build a new tower that will have resources for children receiving treatment. Within the tower will be an occupational wing, which is something that one of Aggie Miracle’s miracle kids, Logan, uses once a week.
“Every day, when he’s going to therapy, part of our money is going towards that,” Hanson said. “It doesn’t pay for all of it, because that’s a lot of expenses going into that, but everything is going back towards these families.”
At the event, there was a donation station, a silent auction and a table where attendees could write letters to miracle families. The organization sponsors nine families and 11 kids, several of whom were in attendance at the event.
“This event benefits the kids in a lot of ways,” biomedical sciences junior Collin Horstman said. “It’s basically just a big fun day for them that they can come to and get away from any of the things going on in their lives.”
Aggie Miracle holds over 35 different fundraising and awareness events each year. On February 22, members of the organization worked to raise $30,000 through donations for the McLane’s Children’s Hospital in less than 24 hours. This was accomplished by setting up donation tables around campus and accepting loose change on the corner of Harvey and Texas. Aggie Miracle set this goal because McLane’s Children’s Hospital serves 30,000 square miles in Texas.
“It started out with me thinking we wouldn’t make it, and then we passed $35,000 with still a couple hours to go,” interdisciplinary studies freshman Becca Crosby said. “The fact that we raised $37,000 in one day was just mind-blowing. It showed me that when you put your mind to something, it will happen.”
A&M is one of several universities in Texas that fundraises for the Children’s Miracle Network. Among them are Baylor, Texas Tech and the University of Texas. According to Hanson, Aggie Miracle is on track to raise a million a year by 2024.
“We’re one of, if not the, fastest growing dance marathons in Texas right now,” Horstman said. “We’re one of the newer programs, but we’re holding our own in terms of fundraising.”
When Crosby was younger, her father had a pulmonary embolism, which led to a stay in the ICU. She said seeing her father in hospital and not knowing how to help is what led her to join Aggie Miracle.
“I could never wrap my mind around being the parent watching their kid because they’re there to fight for them,” Crosby said. “I want to help those parents that want to help fight but just don’t know how,”
Hanson says the most rewarding part of being involved with Aggie Miracle is seeing the amount of people who come together to raise money for McLane’s Children’s Hospital.
“In college, we think these are the years where we can be selfish and take care of ourselves,” Hanson said. “It’s cool to see how many people truly care about wanting to help these kids and want to be here this whole time because they could be doing other things.”