Year: 1995
Amount Raised: $31,000.00

Dance Marathon 1 was one of the single most  defining moments of my life. Our first trip to Penn State to see THON showed me the power of what a unified student community could accomplish. When we returned, we were excited to make a difference. It wasn’t easy though. But nothing worth it usually is. We attended candlelighters meetings and student events practically begging for people to take a few minutes to understand the difference we could make. It’s hard to believe that was 28 years ago and that now the children of my neighbors have been part of this event.

It took a small group of incredibly diverse students, united in a common mission to spread the word and create an infrastructure to build that initial event. We had one goal, to make a single dollar and hopefully build something that could sustain itself to support the lives of kids with cancer. I will be forever grateful to Lisa Baum and Mary Peterson for initially supporting us. I personally consider Maggie Merrick, and Travis McKay and Megan McCabe and Sheila Frein-Baldwin and many others family for the no questions asked support they gave to this organization. Now that most of us have children of our own, the comfort knowing that organizations like this exist provide us the peace of mind to know that god forbid should we ever need it, you are there. I am tremendously proud to be a Hawkeye. Not only for the education, or the sports, or for the friends I met along the way, but for the enduring legacy that that UIDM continues to build for the future of thousands of children and for the everlasting dedication that this student body shows to helping children with cancer. Thank you for all that you do. And thank you most for continuing to Dance for our kids and families.

Chris Metzger - Executive Director, DM1