Dance Marathon at Hope returns Friday

Sentinel Staff  |  The Holland Sentinel

HOLLAND — The annual Dance Marathon tradition at Hope College to benefit Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital will continue this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Students won’t be able to gather for the event as they normally do, but approximately 600 students are expected to participate in an altered format Friday and Saturday, March 26-27. 

Changes this year include students dancing alone or in small gatherings at their residences with a virtual check-in challenge, a closed link for the campus community featuring presentations that normally take place at the Dow Center and a live-streamed opening ceremony on the on-campus video feed.

Instead of creating a tunnel to greet families from the hospital participating in the opening ceremony, physically distanced students will greet the families outdoors prior to the ceremony.

The total amount raised will be announced at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 27, via the on-campus video feed and the Hope College Dance Marathon Instagram page. 

Affiliated with the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, Dance Marathon at Hope is one of more than 400 such efforts at colleges, universities and high schools nationwide. Miracle Network Dance Marathon has raised more than $300 million for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals since its inception in 1991.

Hope College first joined Dance Marathon in 2000 and raised more than $23,000 in its first year. The college raised $340,172 in 2019, fourth best nationwide among colleges with fewer than 12,000 undergraduates, and topped that with a school record $370,671 last year. 

The 21-year cumulative total raised at Hope College is more than $3 million.