 "Photo: Heather Plank")
Behind the Delaware Field House, 6-year-old Molly Anderson and her sister Maggie, 9, chase each other and laugh. The energetic girls climb up on concrete supports while their parents stand nearby to catch them if they fall. Their big smiles belie what they have endured over the past year.
Last May, Molly was diagnosed with leukemia.
Although she has received chemotherapy and steroid treatment and stayed in a hospital for six weeks, all Molly cares about is dancing with a boy at UDance.
Molly is one of four child cancer survivors who were honored on Sunday at UDance, a dance marathon associated with the Greek community that benefits pediatric AIDS and cancer research.
In the past two years, UDance, the university's largest student-run philanthropy, raised approximately $26,000 for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. This year, they added a local organization, the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, as a recipient.
Joe McDonough is the president of B+ (pronounced Be Positive), an organization he started after his 14-year-old son Andrew McDonough died from complications related to a rare form of leukemia. Andrew's immune system was unable to ward off infections that an otherwise healthy person's system could.
"It's like an infection bomb goes off in your body," McDonough says.
B+ represents both Andrew's blood type and his approach to life.
Because of Andrew and other children with cancer, McDonough and his foundation are passionate about raising money for research. B+ recently gave a $250,000 grant to the Nemours Center for Childhood Cancer Research. They also help families of children with cancer emotionally, spiritually and sometimes financially. Last year, they distributed $45,000 to families from 19 states and so far this year, they have given $30,000, he says.
Sophomore Jay Mercandetti, member of Sigma Phi Epsilon and the fundraising chair of UDance, has been working toward the night all year. He says he was pleased with how willing Main Street businesses were to donate their goods and services, even though some businesses couldn't donate their time.
The event featured DJ Amaze and local bands like Moffa Attack, Burnt Sienna and Element K. Phresh Select, a group of dancers from MTV's "America's Best Dance Crew," also made an appearance.
"To make money, you have to spend money," Mercandetti says.
Senior Alicia Dreher, member of Alpha Epsilon Phi, agrees.
"Ultimately, these acts are going to bring in people who are going to be paying," Dreher says.
Some of the acts donated their time and charitable deductions or took a lower rate than they normally would, Dreher says. She declined to say which groups did.
"We have a lot of things at the event that are going to bring in money," Dreher says.
Among those were several raffles including a 50/50, gift certificates from many Newark businesses and prizes from Studio Green, the largest being a one-year lease.
Alpha Epsilon Phi and Sigma Phi Epsilon had worked jointly to expand UDance from Greek life to a university-wide event. Next year, they'll open up applications for the board to non-Greek life, Dreher says.
Dreher and Mercandetti say UDance is the biggest philanthropic event on campus and they have high hopes for its future. Dreher says there will be four times the donations next year, and Mercandetti says the dance marathon should expand from 12 hours to 24 hours.
The event even caught the attention of university President Patrick Harker, who addressed the crowd at 5 p.m.
"Do you feel good?" he asked the students. "It's been six hours. You feel good?"
The crowd responded with cheers and applause.
"You should feel good," Harker continued, "because your generation is telling the world you really care. You're going to change the world, step by step, person by person and you should be proud."
Alumna Jessica Forman never expected UDance to become so big when she started the event in 2004.
She got the idea from other schools that had similar programs, such as Pennsylvania State University's THON, which raised $7.5 million this year.
"Every other big university was doing something," Forman says. "Why not us?"
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