by Tom Ackerman
@Tom_AckermanDI
After a walk through the Iowa Memorial Union at Dance Marathon, you might run into a sea of impassioned community members that stand out from the crowd of lime.
Among the participants leading the charge are red-shirted, eccentric groups of captains who have committed to the fundraiser on a level beyond most.
Dance Marathon morale captains take a group of dancers under their wing, encouraging and helping them raise the necessary amount of funds — which is $500 this year.
“It’s a lot of behind the scenes work,” said Caden Crandall, a University of Iowa student, about his morale captain. “We’ve impacted [families’] living, but the captains also have impacted our drive to raise more.”
Captains have a range of duties beyond fundraising as well. They are involved in recruiting, education, and communication. At the Big Event, they also encourage dancing to continue throughout the 24 hours.
For many of the leaders, the drive to become morale captains came from an early love of dance. They also wanted to become involved in the organization as underclassmen. But now their focus has shifted towards fundraising and helping families who have been impacted with cancer.
“Just seeing how inspiring the leaders were for me, I was really ecstatic,” said Jess Rands, a University of Iowa student and morale captain. “I knew I wanted to be deeply involved in some way.”
She also said being energetic and excited is necessary in order to encourage fundraising effectively.
“That’s why this program is so important. I want people to love this as much as I do. That’s what makes it grow,” she said.
Others, like captain Casey Blaesing, feel the need to be leaders to spread awareness about cancer in the community, which is a real and local issue.
“We see a direct impact with the hospital so close by,” she said. “It makes you realize what real difference is made.”
Nonetheless, whether it be through a Dance Marathon member or a captain, the passion during the 24-hour event has never gone unnoticed through the program’s 22 years at the UI so far.
“The longer you’re involved, the more you realize how much one person can change in a life,” Rands said.
