With the holiday season rapidly approaching, students will have the opportunity to spread holiday cheer by raising funds for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.
Quinnipiac’s second annual QTHON, co-sponsored by Delta Tau Delta and the Student Programming Board, is designed to raise money for the medical center, while providing a memorable and enjoyable evening for students and members of the community.
The event will be held on Friday, Dec. 7, from 6 p.m. until midnight at Burt Kahn Court.
Although a key aspect of QTHON is dancing, the sponsors of the event want to stress that this is not the typical “dance-til-you-drop” marathon.
“People get intimidated when they hear the phrase ‘dance marathon,’” said senior Jaime Mor, executive chair of the event. “They worry that they aren’t good dancers, but the idea is just to have people on their feet. We have a deejay and people really enjoy the dances, but the true purpose is for the kids.”
The event began as just an idea last fall, and was something the fraternity thought was lacking at Quinnipiac, Mor said.
“It was something that we thought was missing from the QU community,” he said. “We reached out to the medical center, and they were extremely supportive. They encouraged us from the beginning.”
Not only does the event raise money for the medical center, but attendees will also get to hear stories of six families who have personal connections to Children’s Miracle Network.
“We raised over $14,000 at the event last year, and we were blown away,” Mor said. “We didn’t see it as a success for us, but for our community being able to support such an amazing cause.”
The event will have music, dancing and other activities, as well as other groups on campus in attendance.
“The Quinnipiac Ballroom Society is very interested in participating in events across campus, including QTHON,” said junior Cat Makuch, president of Quinnipiac’s Ballroom Society. “We are always interested in giving back to the community, especially for children. We feel like this event is absolutely wonderful. I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of our members there and just having a great time.”
Participants will also get to learn a special morale dance, which will be performed every hour on the hour. Junior Jon Quick is in charge of choreographing and designing the morale dance.
“The purpose of the morale dance is just to get everyone moving and having fun,” Quick said. “Our hope is that everyone will know the moves by the end of the night.”
The registration fee for the event is $10 and will be donated to the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center through the Children’s Miracle Network.
Some of Delt’s members may have a personal connection to the cause, like senior Patrick Duffy, who spent time recovering at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center during an illness he had a few years ago.
“The little kindnesses made such a huge difference over those terrible days,” Duffy said. “When it came time for me to decide what I wanted to do with my life, I decided that I want to be a physician assistant, so that I could pass to my future patients all the little kindnesses that were given to me.”
The event also hits home for those who do not have personal connections to the Children’s Miracle Network.
“I speak on behalf of all of the brothers in Delt when I say it had a huge impact on all of us,” Quick said. “Hearing the stories from the kids gave individual faces to the cause we already cared so much about.”
