Suzie Moorman, 7, who has hydrocephalus, can be in need of medical attention at a moment’s notice. Iowa State Dance Marathon is an event that makes Moorman and the rest of the Miracle Kids forget about their illnesses and remember how special they truly are. 

“These college kids make them feel special, and we love coming here,” said Heather Moorman, Suzie’s mother. “This day makes up for the entire year.”

Around 30 families attended Saturday’s event. For some families, it was their first time, and for others, like the Moormans, it’s been several years.

Suzie, her sister Sarah and her mother Heather, of Corydon, Iowa, have attended Dance Marathon for years. Heather said her daughters look forward to the January day every year.

“We’ll come to Dance Marathon, and then we’ll get home and they ask me when they can go back,” Heather said.

The Moormans enjoy ISU DM so much because of the connections that are made between the dancers, committee members and morale captains to the kids that make the event extraordinary, Heather said.

“The money raised today goes 100 percent to University of Iowa Children’s Medical Center,” Heather said, “Dance Marathon provides the medical center with so many things that help Suzie and other miracle kids.”

The Moorman family is grateful for ISU Dance Marathon and the chances Suzie has been given, Heather said.

“She wasn’t supposed to be able to walk, talk, see or hear,” Suzie’s mother said. “And now she’s doing it all and reading at about a first-grade level.”

ISU Dance Marathon is the best day of the year for Suzie, and Heather said her daughter is a true miracle child.

“This is her second chance at life.”

Around 880 ISU students, dressed in teal T-shirts, gathered in the Memorial Union on Saturday for ISU Dance Marathon.

ISU Dance Marathon raised a total of $380,742.15 for the University of Iowa Children’s Medical Center. It is a $116,452.01 increase from last year’s total of $264,290.14, and highest in ISU Dance Marathon history. Attendance from the event was also an increase from last year’s 810 participants.

Dance Marathon is a 15-hour fundraising charity event, where each dancer must raise $250 to take part in Saturday’s experience. They also get to participate in the largest philanthropic event at Iowa State.

All of the money raised will go directly to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, associated with the Children’s Miracle Network.

The event welcomes children with life-threatening illnesses and their families to a night full of fun, with games such as a giant Twister game, board games, a bouncy house, constant dancing, performances and more.

Dance Marathon has been a successful charity event at Iowa State for 15 years. The anniversary, “15 Hours, 15 Years, Kickin’ it for the Kids,” is a major accomplishment for ISU DM members. The first ISU Dance Marathon, according to its website, was in the spring of 1998.

“These kids look up to us, being college students, but really, we look up to them, and are blessed for them” said Nate Dobbels, senior in agriculture and life science education, morale captain for Team Cow and fifth-year ISU DM member.

“[The kids] are the most important people here today,” he said. “Every one of us here today become kids again.”

Dance Marathon participants ranged from veterans to first-year members. Jane Morrison, sophomore in pre-journalism and mass communications, said she enjoyed her first time at Dance Marathon.

“The best part of today was hanging out with the kids,” Morrison said. “It’s heartwarming.”

She said she will definitely come back next year.

“The happy faces the kids get make such a difference,” Morrison said. 

Another first time Dance Marathon dancer, Amanda Pearce, said the event was an eye-opening experience.

“Kids our age complain about everything, all the time,” Pearce said. “Interacting with these [Miracle] Kids make you realize our small complaints are useless.”

The event was entirely student-run, and co-director Jamison Arends, senior in supply chain management, said he is very proud of the event that the ISU DM committee and dancers put together.

“Dancers are taking 15 hours of their time for this” Arends said. “They’re giving these kids and families something special.”

Arends said the event was successful and a lot of fun for everyone.

“There is so much to do, entertainment-wise,” he said.

For 15 hours, dancers stay on their feet, all while interacting with the Miracle Children and partaking in fun activities.

There was a table of laptops, where ISU DM participants utilized social media to bring awareness to the night. Dancers could tweet or Facebook during the event. There was also a DM poster with the words, “Touching the lives of children and families across Iowa,” on which dancers placed their thumbprints with teal paint. In the same room was a message board where dancers wrote down why they chose to participate in Dance Marathon.

Because of the long day, at every hour there was a morale dance that took place in the Great Hall.

“The dance pumps everyone up,” Arends said. “There’s a different theme every hour, where the morale captains dress up to the theme.”

The dance also helps keep track of the time, because of the lack of watches and cellphones at the event, Arends said.

Also at the event were Dance Marathon members from the University of Iowa, Drake University and the University of Northern Iowa.

For some members of Dance Marathon, this will be their last year. Arends has been apart of DM for all four years at Iowa State. He said he will miss it come graduation.

“[Dance Marathon] means so much to me” Arends said. “It’s an experience that has enriched and changed my life.”

Arends credits co-director Szuyin Leow, the entire committee, the dancers and families for making ISU DM such a big success.

“The people I’ve worked with are great,” he said. “They’re the best student leaders and people.”

Arends said he has always enjoyed helping people and knew ISU DM was right for him during Destination Iowa State freshman year. He said the experience has been heartwarming for him because of the children and families.

“Often times, these kids don’t get a chance,” he said. “This is for them to get away.”