Dance Marathon hosted its kick-off event for the year with Teal Wheels on Saturday, Sept. 17.

Participants took an eight-mile bike ride through the Ames community, starting and ending at Hilton Coliseum.

“We decided to branch out and create a new event with Dance Marathon to expand their efforts besides just the Dance Marathon, which will be Jan. 21,” said Emily Culp, senior in marketing and advertising and the director of public relations for Dance Marathon at Iowa State.

Registration for the event was $20 and those who registered got a Dance Marathon T-shirt. An estimated 80 people registered for the event.

Teal Wheels was not just a fundraising event but also a way to help increase awareness about Dance Marathon.

“It gets the families involved with the students that are participating in Dance Marathon,” said Lindsay Hoffman, junior in pre-diet and exercise.

Hoffman is member of the special projects committee for Dance Marathon that helps create events like Teal Wheels — the first event of its kind for Dance Marathon.

Nate Dobbels, senior in agricultural and life sciences education, signed up to be one of the route coordinators for Teal Wheels.

“I helped direct traffic to make sure people stayed on the track,” Dobbels said.

Dobbels, who is a part of recruitment morale, believes that Dance Marathon is a way to give back and share his energetic talents with others.

“I feel like I was given a really fortunate life,” Dobbels said. “Dance Marathon is a way to meet those who have been through a lot of troubles and really see what life is all about.”

Iowa State’s Dance Marathon team has the opportunity to work with the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital to decide where the money raised will go.

“With the Dance Marathon exec, we are able to work with the Children’s Hospital and figure out what exactly what we want our money to benefit specifically in the hospital,” Culp said. “One of the neatest things we have been able to help out with was last year, we decided to allocate some of our money to building a new patient library. There is now a brand new patient library in the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital.”