CHARLOTTE AND CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Every year UNC students hold a 24-hour Dance Marathon to raise money for the UNC Children’s Hospital. It brings out hundreds of students.

• The Carolina for the Kids Foundation was scheduled to hold their annual Dance Marathon March 20-21
• It was cancelled because of the coronavirus, so they decided to hold it virtually
• To donate and learn more click here

“It takes a lot of work and planning,” Carolina for the Kids, Public Relations Chair, Kalina MacKay said. “We started planning this last April.”

This year, due to the coronavirus, the event was canceled, but organizers didn’t want their hard work to go to waste. In 2019 they raised more than $440,000 for UNC Children’s Hospital.

“The patients and family’s at UNC Children’s never give up, so we are not giving up and we have to do something about this,” MacKay said.

MacKay and other students helped set up a 24-hour Virtual Dance Marathon. It started at 7 p.m. on March 20 and will last through 7 p.m. March 21.

“Especially being a senior, a lot of people had lost hope for a lot of things,” Carolina for the Kids, Executive Director, Michelle Cooley, said. “UNC just canceled graduation for all UNC schools. So I think right now, whether you are a student at UNC or a student somewhere else, or any person, I think it’s important to have something positive that people are working towards.”

If you want to join in on this virtual dance marathon, log onto the Carolina for the Kids Instagram account. Take a video of yourself dancing and send it through messages. Then, they will be posting some of those videos on their Instagram story.

As the marathon goes on, parents whose children had cancer are encouraged to send videos as well.

“Colin and his brother both had childhood cancer, he has been off cancer for three years,” said Kathline Henry, who submitted a video last year.

“Just to see that first hand and having the parents tell you how much your work means to them, is an incredibly emotional experience,” MacKay said.

“It’s nice when you are in that scenario and your child is fighting for their life and you don’t have to worry about gas or groceries,” Henry said. “So we really do appreciate all of those efforts, thanks guys.”

To donate and learn more click here.