Timber Creek High School’s 2022-2023 Fundraiser for Children’s Miracle Network
By Soha Shaik
Every minute, 62 children enter a Children’s Miracle Network hospital around the country. Every year, 2 million children are treated in a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. Here at Timber Creek, every year, we put on a year-long fundraiser called the CMN Dance Marathon fundraiser. Run by a committee within our SGA, this year it’s being led by two seniors – Maddy Kesler and Zach Kyhos. Kesler and Kyhos hope to go above and beyond the total raised in previous year as for the 2021-2022 year, the committee raised $23, 221 from August until March. As a former member of the executive board and an SGA member who has participated for the past 3 years and will do so this year as well, I can testify that Dance Marathon is one of the most fulfilling and exciting events we host each year.
For a little background, Dance Marathon is the last major fundraising event of the whole year, where we collect our final donations, meet Miracle Kids (kids who benefit from the money we raise), and celebrate our hard work and all the money we get to give back our local Arnold Palmer hospital here in Orlando. Fundraising begins around early September when the committee starts on setting up Donor Drives (how members collect donations). The committee hosts a variety of fundraising events throughout the entirety of the school year. But Dance Marathon is most widely known for its Bundt cake sale fundraiser that usually takes place in February of each school year and tends to contribute to most of the proceeds alongside spirit nights like Chick-fil-a. In previous years the committee has also done projects like selling carnations for Valentine’s Day, car washes in Stoneybrook, a garage sale in Stoneybrook as well, and selling candy. In 2019, the committee also was able to visit Arnold Palmer (the direct recipient of the money raised) and see just how the money was being used for life-saving equipment. Another major way to raise money for the committee is bucketing, where committee members go around at lunches and sports games to talk to students and parents to collect change towards the money raised. This year, they hope to incorporate various clubs around campus to raise awareness about the cause and attendance at the fundraisers and the final event itself, as well.
Now that the school year is back in full swing and event planning has begun for SGA, Maddy was able to provide me with some insight into their plans for the year. She said, “We hope to host two Bundt cake sales (rather than only one), a 5K, and a car wash. We really want to involve our student body and keep them engaged in our fundraising efforts.” As mentioned earlier, one of the key goals for the committee this year is to cross the amount they raised last year and senior Jordyn Gerardi, who is also part of the Dance Marathon committee this year, as well as last year, echoed this sentiment when she told me that she “is so excited to be able to once again be able to work on Dance Marathon and raise awareness about how Children’s Miracle Network helps families in need as a way to give back to our Orlando community.” Many students on campus are not aware of what Dance Marathon really is, and it tends to remain solely a majority SGA involved project. Maddy and Zach hope to focus their efforts this year on expanding Dance Marathon’s reach across campus and to get more non-SGA students to participate!
All in all, the TCHS Dance Marathon committee has an exciting year planned so make sure keep an eye out for more information to come on upcoming spirit nights and fundraising events! And if you have any questions about Dance Marathon and how to get involved, you can contact Maddy Kesler through the DM Instagram account @timbercreekdm!
