#pudm

Hey Taylor! 

So, as a HUGE fan of yours I OF COURSE have been in absolute with LOVER! While every song on the album has impacted me in some way, Soon You’ll Get Better has been playing in my mind all day today because today happens to be DAY OF MIRACLES for Purdue University Dance Marathon (PUDM)!!! 

I have been very active in PUDM for the past 3 years. So heres a quick run down of what it actually is:

Purdue Dance Marathon is a campus-wide philanthropy benefitting Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. We work year round to fundraise for Riley Hospital, support the kid in treatment, cry with families that have lost the fight, and celebrate every victory. Essentially, the Marathon itself is a celebration of what we’ve accomplished throughout the year to benefit the kids and families at Riley Hospital. Everyone who has raised money as well as a bunch of Riley Families gather for an 18-hour event, where participants are required to stand the whole time (and dance ~on HOLY GROUND~ most of the time hehe).

It might sound silly, but I’ve never been a part of an experience that made me feel more bonded with such a large group than while we are all pressing through the agony of standing for at least 18 hours. You get miserable but stay in high spirits: playing dodge ball, learning the 10-minute group line dance, or interacting with the families and hearing their stories, inspiring us to keep going. We stand for those who can’t; we dance to help them smile; we do it FOR THE KIDS (FTK!). 

This organization is filled with such an intense amount of love and passion and altruism. Everyday we are fighting for the next generation to make sure that they can go home and sleep in their own beds, knowing that they did get better. 

I think for me, my biggest inspiration come from two incredibly important people in my life (who actually both happen to be fans of yours as well!!). A dear friend and teammate of mine, Audrey Lupton, lost her battle at Riley in 2017. My cousin, Elizabeth, however, is a living testament to the phenomenal work that the hospital has. She, despite all odds, is alive today to dance through her beautiful life. Both Elizabeth and Audrey have graced this world with their pure joy and beauty, and inspire me everyday. 

Purdue’s Dance Marathon raised more than $1 million last year, and we are the youngest Dance Marathon in history to accomplish this. We have now raised cumulatively over $2 million in the 10 years we’ve been in existence. We’re still only about half the size of Indiana University’s marathon, whose 36-hour event raised an impressive $2.5 million last year (Dance Marathon is perhaps the only instance where I will set aside the Purdue-IU rivalry and root for the Hoosiers).

The money that PUDM raises goes specifically to help funding Cancer Research, Camp Riley, and the day-to-day operating costs that most people don’t think of but families still have to deal with, such as parking – things that add up surprisingly fast when your child has to stay in the hospital for weeks or even months at a time.

More than anything, I’m writing this because it’s incredibly relevant to SYGB, and I feel like you should know about it if you didn’t already. I’m hoping to raise awareness about PUDM, IUDM, and Dance Marathons in general. They happen all around the country, benefitting their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital, bringing joy and hope into as many hearts as they can reach.

A tumblr reblog, a shot-out, or even a tweet would mean the world to us here at PUDM and to me personally! 

To learn more about PUDM and how to how to donate, you can visit pudm.org or donate directly to my personal fundraising page http://donate.rileykids.org/goto/kward . My goal is to raise $800 (8 is my lucky number) by the marathon (Nov. 9-10) and then hopefully make it to $1300 (because, 13. duh) by the end! 

To learn more about Dance Marathons and to find one near you, you can visit dancemarathon.com.

Thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart for simply being who you are in the world. You mean more to me than I’ll ever me able to put into words. 

love, love, love, 

Hey everyone! I'm  a student raising money for the annual Purdue University Dance Marathon for Riley Hospital for Children. I am a member of the Purdue University Dance Marathon committe and we raise money and awareness for Riley Hospital for Children year-round, and we celebrate our efforts in November with an 18-hour Dance Marathon filled with fun, games, and inspiration. It is my first year being a committee member for the dance marathon and my goal is to help raise $500 for the fundraiser. The last day to donate money is October 15. The dance marathon will be held on October 22-23. If you would like to help donate to the cause please select the gofundme link and I will post a link later when my official fundraiser PUDM page is up. Thanks!

John,

I recently finished reading The Fault in Our Stars (a little late to the bandwagon, I know). I’m sure it’s nothing you haven’t heard a million times before, but it is a beautiful book, and reading was a joy (and also, you know, completely and utterly heart-wrenching. But mostly a joy).

A lot of things in the book resonated with me. My mom is going through a relapse of breast cancer, and though she’s doing okay and there’s no time limit or anything, we are basically fighting to make the cancer Not Worse as opposed to Better. I have a hard time talking about it to people so it was sort of cathartic to be able to relate to Hazel and her family in the book.

However, the thing that resonated most with me was how you portrayed the hospitals, the families, and the realities of being sick.

I am very active in Purdue University Dance Marathon (PUDM), which is a campus-wide philanthropy benefitting Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. I assume you are at least moderately familiar with Riley, as you are at least moderately familiar with children’s hospitals (both through you work as a Chaplain when you were younger and through your experiences writing TFIOS) and you live in Indianapolis. And though you only refer to Hazel’s hospital as “Children’s” in TFIOS, I can’t help but feel that it was probably Riley (or at least would have been, in Real Life).

So while I believe you are familiar with Riley, I do not know if you have any idea what a Dance Marathon is. Essentially, the Marathon itself is a celebration of what we’ve accomplished throughout the year to benefit the kids and families at Riley Hospital. Everyone who has raised money as well as a bunch of Riley Families gather for an 18-hour event, where participants are required to stand (and dance, sometimes).

It might sound silly, but I’ve never been a part of an experience that made me feel more bonded with such a large group than while we are all pressing through the agony of tired, swollen legs at 4am, just past the 15-hour mark. We’re miserable but also in high spirits: playing dodge ball, learning the 10-minute group line dance, or interacting with the families and hearing their stories, inspiring us to keep going. We stand for those who can’t; we dance to help them smile; we do it For The Kids (FTK!).

Purdue’s Dance Marathon raised more than $1 million last year, and we are the youngest Dance Marathon in history to accomplish this. We have now raised cumulatively over $2 million in the 10 years we’ve been in existence. We’re still only about half the size of Indiana University’s marathon, whose 36-hour event raised an impressive $2.5 million last year (Dance Marathon is perhaps the only instance where I will set aside the Purdue-IU rivalry and root for the Hoosiers).

The money that PUDM raises goes specifically to help funding Cancer Research, Camp Riley, and the day-to-day operating costs that most people don’t think of but families still have to deal with, such as parking – things that add up surprisingly fast when your child has to stay in the hospital for weeks or even months at a time.

More than anything, I’m writing this because it’s incredibly relevant to TFIOS, and I feel like you should know about it if you didn’t already. I’m hoping to raise awareness about PUDM, IUDM, and Dance Marathons in general. They happen all around the country, benefitting their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital, bringing joy and hope into as many hearts as they can reach.

A tumblr reblog, a shot-out in a video, or even a tweet would mean the world to us here at PUDM!

To learn more about PUDM and how to donate or get involved, you can visit pudm.org. To learn more about Dance Marathons and to find one near you, you can visit dancemarathon.com.

DFTBA and FTK,