Dance Marathon Deemed Classiest

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Dance Marathon -- the Northwestern University student group that has raised more than $12 million for 30 different Chicago-area beneficiaries since 1975 -- received the Most Influential College Organization Award Sept. 17 at the third annual Classy Awards ceremony in San Diego.

For its achievement, Dance Marathon was awarded $10,000, all of which will go towards Dance Marathon’s 2012 fundraising total.

Hosted by StayClassy, an online fundraising organization, the country’s largest philanthropic awards ceremony recognizes outstanding philanthropic achievements nationwide.

“The Classy Awards not only honors Dance Marathon’s hard work, but also brings attention to other organizations that aim to do good in the world,” said Dance Marathon 2012 co-chair Kunal Joshi, a Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences senior.

Last year, more than 1,000 dancers and committee members raised a recording-breaking $1,019,130 in total gifts and in-kind donations for the Children’s Heart Foundation and Evanston Community Foundation. The primary beneficiary of Dance Marathon 2012 will be the Andrew McDonough B+ (Be Positive) Foundation to fight childhood cancer.

“This award wasn’t just about what we did last year, but everything Dance Marathon has stood for in the past 38 years,” said School of Communication senior Scott Ritter, who is co-chairing Dance Marathon 2012, which takes place March 2.

For more information, visit www.nudm.org.

The need for kidney transplantation doesn't match our capacity.

Lorenzo Gallon of Feinberg is among those to say doctors should consider trying to reuse more organs to ease a shortage