For participants in Ottothon at Syracuse University, the saying goes, “Dance the day away.”

Next weekend, members of Ottothon, SU students and community members will kick off the fifth annual dance marathon fundraiser. Beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3, hundreds of people will dance for 12 consecutive hours in an effort to meet this year’s fundraising goal of $200,000.

Ottothon, which was founded by alum Jillian Lynch in 2015, is an extension of Dance Marathon, an international program with participants at hundreds of high schools and colleges. The program benefits local hospitals by raising funds for children at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital in Syracuse.

Each year, Ottothon’s e-board collaborates with a team at the hospital to decide how the fundraising will be used. This year’s event will fund uninsured family expenses such as travel and meals.

“We want people to join our cause and our fight,” said Austin Kriews, a senior biochemistry major at SU and the executive director of Ottothon.

Kriews, who first became involved with Ottothon during his freshman year, is working alongside e-board members to continue Lynch’s legacy. It’s the first year the founding members will not be involved — and the eboard is feeling the pressure to continue their momentum.

Kyra Meister, a senior communication and rhetorical sciences major, is the partnership chair for Ottothon. She said organizing this year’s event has been “exciting and scary at the same time.” While they want to maintain the event’s successful track record, the e-board has asked themselves how they can make it better since they began planning the event earlier this year.

This year’s fundraising goal is nearly $50,000 more than what last year’s Ottothon raised. The Ottothon e-board and foundation representatives at Upstate decided on the number together, but their goals extend beyond fundraising.

This year, Ottothon introduced a new way to connect the Miracle Kids — children being treated at Upstate — to Ottothon participants. In the past, the Miracle Kids attended the Ottothon event but have not necessarily engaged with dancers and participants. Starting this year, e-board members have grouped teams of dancers together to each represent one Miracle Kid, creating a deeper connection and making their goal more literal.

Claudia Heritage, the internal director of Ottothon and a senior biochemistry major, helped with the change. Heritage said instead of participants’ mindset being about raising money to meet the goal, they now have a child to dance and fundraise for. Each team’s progress is facilitated through a Facebook page, where Miracle Kids and dancers can stay connected year-round.

For the second time, Ottothon will go full circle for one of its dancers, Andrew Benbeneck. A sophomore broadcast journalism major in SU’s InclusiveU program, Benbeneck was treated at Upstate as a child. At last year’s fundraiser, he raised nearly $3,000, which was more than any other dancer, Benbeneck said. It wasn’t long after that Benbeneck was asked to join this year’s hospital and family relations committee.

“It’s great seeing what we’ve done and how it’s made a difference for the hospital and for the kids and families that are there,” Benbenek said.

He said the changes to Ottothon that e-board members like Heritage worked toward are a great idea. Benbenek was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2000 and spent two years at Upstate receiving treatment. He still returns for check-ups, but Benbenek is glad of the growing partnership between Upstate and SU.

The last day to register as a dancer for the event is Friday, Nov. 2.

Published on October 22, 2018 at 11:17 pm

Contact Lydia: lnilesst@syr.edu