By Chinonso Maduforo
Terp Thon broke its own record by raising more than $130,000 for the Children’s National Center at its Day of Miracles.
This was Terp Thon’s fourth annual event. It ran a full 24 hours, from noon Nov. 15 to noon Nov. 16 and raised $130,472 in total.
According to a press release from Terp Thon, Day of Miracles is the group’s largest fundraising effort aside from the annual Dance Marathon in March. The release also stated that last year’s event raised over $125,462, which was 17 percent of the total amount of funds raised for 2017-2018.
Just five hours into Day of Miracles, Terp Thon had already gathered about $26,526 in donations.
Analeigh Hughes, the public relations chair for Terp Thon, said although things tend to be slow mid-day due to classes, an unexpected wintry mix lended a hand with some class cancellations.
“We’ve had a pretty steady amount of people coming in all day,” Hughes said.
The group’s base was in the Student Involvement Suite. They had various stations set up, including a “Genius Bar,” which provided people with fundraising tips. There were also different activities throughout the day, including coloring pages, slime, button-making and lava lamps.
An “inspiration station” was also set up with information about Terp Thon’s cause, so that people could “come to get more connected to [see] why we do what we do,” according Hughes.
By about 6 p.m., cards placed in the front windows of the involvement suite were updated to show that donations had increased to $40,000, preceded by the bang of a gong, which signified that a donation had been made.
Participants of the Day of Miracles were appreciative of the group’s efforts. Matthew McPheron, a freshman kinesiology major, hadn’t previously heard about the event, but was informed by a friend involved in Terp Thon.
“It’s a great cause. It’s pretty enjoyable, and a great place to hangout too,” McPheron said, adding that he was surprised by the large turnout. “It’s just kind of crazy how many people are involved in this.”
McPheron said his friend came in with a donation goal of $400, but was able to reach about $1,400 by the end of the day.
Sara Hatfield, a freshman community and behavioral health major, said she too heard about Day of Miracles from a friend on the creative development team for Terp Thon. The goal of the event is what drew her to the involvement suite, she said.
“I definitely think it’s an amazing cause and just the energy behind it is incredible,” Hatfield said. “So if I have the opportunity to support my friends and support people who are benefiting from this, I think there’s no better reason than that.”
Based on the outcome of the event at the time, Hatfield expected the total amount of donations to be more than $100,000, which was the group’s goal. She ended up being right.
By the final total reveal shortly after noon on Friday, Terp Thon had raised well over its initial goal, marking yet another successful Day of Miracles.
Amara Fox, the executive director of Terp Thon, said she was thrilled.
“I think it represents a lot of hard work and commitment from all of our dancers, our planning team members, our ambassadors, who are all of the different members of Terp Thon, as well as all of the donors that were able to contribute to that total,” Fox said, adding it was the highest amount of donations they had received in the four years that Day of Miracles has occurred.
Fox is excited to see how the momentum from this win will carry the group throughout the rest of the year, leading up to their Dance Marathon in March.