COVID-19 could not stop the Quinnipiac community from holding its annual QTHON, raising $206,697.59 for Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.

While the event could not take place in the Quinnipiac gym due to the closure of campus, QTHON was held on Instagram, with videos from Quinnipiac students, miracle children and their families.

“In light of the closing of campus at the time when QTHON was planned on being held, we decided to move forward with a virtual event,” said a representative of QTHON via Instagram direct messages. “As a part of Children’s Hospital Week, we will be hosting a virtual dance marathon to continue our fight to cure childhood illnesses. Our dancers and community have worked hard all year and we want to say thank you.”

Other videos posted to QTHON’s Instagram story include past performances from the Ice Cats, Quinnipiac’s Tap Company, Dance Fusion and Quinnipiac’s Club Dance Team. Another set of videos showed the talents of three of this year’s miracle children.

Several members of the executive board for QTHON also made videos showing followers how to do the Morale dance. Each member taught a different segment of the dance as they would have in person. After each segment was posted, a final video with the full Morale dance was posted, bringing all the segments together.

This year’s miracle children and their families were introduced to the followers of the QTHON Instagram through short video clips made by their families as well as their sponsor organizations. Miracle children have battled conditions such as epilepsy, leukemia and pulmonary stenosis and have gone to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. They can be adopted by organizations who exceed a certain amount of fundraising or by winning fundraising challenges throughout the year leading up to QTHON.

“We are in a difficult health crisis right now and obviously that’s made a lot of changes, but one of the things that don’t change is that we have critically ill children coming to Connecticut Childrens being well taken care of every day,” said David Kinahan, the president of the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center Foundation in a video on QTHON’s Instagram story. “Just this past week we opened the state’s first and only pediatric dialysis center. that’s a dialysis center that simply would not be possible without the philanthropy and support from QTHON and others like it.”

According to QTHON’s fundraising website, in 2019, 1,700 dancers raised $332,567.12 for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center Foundation. Since the first QTHON in 2012, Quinnipiac students have raised over $1.2 million.