 DanceMirathon is the largest student-run philanthropic organization on campus and we raise funds and awareness for childrens of Alabama, the local children's hospital here right over in Birmingham. The first event was held in 2008 and basically just started because some students felt like that they wanted to be able to give back to a local cause and they saw that other universities across the country had DanceMirathon programs and they felt that it would be something that we could implement here at UA and something that our students and campus would really connect with. And this year it's 13.1 hours so it will be from 10 a.m. to 11.06 p.m. and that's when we'll reveal how much we raised for the year but throughout the day it's filled with games and activities, obviously dancing but I like to tell people that you don't have to be a good dancer or know how to dance whatsoever to come to DanceMirathon. It's much more than that. So at the main event this year we actually are expecting to have 77 family members. This is the first time ever that we've had that many people which is exciting. I've only seen myself as a leader, as a motivator so if I can motivate a committee of 60 people to fundraise $200, $300, whatever it is, I mean it adds up, every dollar counts. I met some parents and some family members who have spent every other night switching out with their spouse for the last two years taking care of their child who's never been able to leave the hospital which when I found out what DanceMirathon was about I really was able to connect to that and see and be able to witness that in person allows me to connect to the cause and what we do here as an organization. So there's a lot to me because of the impact that they've had on my family. When I was about six years old with my dad's family living here we would come here over the summer. That summer I just got really sick and we didn't really know why so I had to be raised to children of Alabama which is where we found out that I had pneumonia and for a lot of people it's kind of like you stay in the hospital for a couple of days you do what the doctors say you get better but for my family my aunt passed away from double pneumonia so for my mom it was something that kind of she was reliving the scary moment with her child and just recently my baby cousin her name is Amaya when she was born we found out that she had a hole in her heart and so I'm just really grateful for all the children's has done for my family because each time I think about it just gives me more of a drive to like this I need to do this I want to make sure that this organization makes sure that others kids can live a life that I got to live and that the lives that my cousins are now getting to live. I want every kid to have a childhood that was as silly and carefree as mine was and I know right now that's not the reality I never had to wonder if I could participate in field day or spend the night with my friends or take dance classes health was never an obstacle that I had to struggle with there are a lot of kids out there that are fighting and so the reason I love dance marathon is because we're gonna keep fighting for those kids until they don't have to fight anymore.