UGA Miracle and Dance Marathon

Sage McCamley, a first-year member of Kappa Delta, shares all about UGA Miracle and specifically, their annual Dance Marathon:

With over 700 registered student organizations on campus at the University of Georgia, there are endless ways to get involved on campus. However, what tends to stand out among other opportunities, especially for students involved in Greek Life, is UGA Miracle, more specifically the annual UGA Miracle Dance Marathon. The Dance Marathon is UGA Miracle's top fundraising event every year and attracts thousands of students and participants to join for the 26.2-hour dance. Before diving deeper into the event's details, it's crucial to look at the values and mission of UGA Miracle as a whole. UGA Miracle was founded in 1995, and since then has raised over $12 million for clients at the Children's Hospital of Atlanta, officially establishing themselves as the largest donor to Children's. The awareness and money raised through this organization have saved countless lives, funded hundreds of surgeries, and has been used for further research at Children's Hospital of Atlanta. Over 2,000 students are members of UGA Miracle, and 33 out of 66 membership teams are Greek Life chapters on campus. Each of these chapters and the remaining 33 teams has a stake in raising money annually for Children's, and healthy competition is encouraged between groups for further fundraising incentives.

As successful as UGA Miracle is alone, their annual Dance Marathon is one of their trademarks. They have had 26 previous dance marathons, and this spring on February 19 will mark their 27th year! Last year in the spring of 2021, almost $1,500,000 was raised, even in the midst of a pandemic. As of now, almost 2,000 people have already signed up to attend the event, and donations are continuing to rise. At the event, close to 60 children from the Children’s Hospital of Atlanta will be at the event and will participate in the various activities sponsored at the event. At the Dance Marathon, people will dance on the dance floor, perform dances for the crowd on a stage, and choreograph dances for participants. The dance marathon this year will be one of the biggest philanthropy events on campus of the year, make sure to sign up on the UGA Miracle website!