Early this month over 1,000 Northwestern students gathered for the 42nd annual Northwestern University Dance Marathon. Students danced from 7pm Friday March 4th to 1am March 6th raising over $1.2 million in support of Blessings in a Backpack and the Evanston Community Foundation. Students work throughout the entire year to raise money for the recipient, all culminating in their dance marathon celebration where they continuously dance for 36 hours with sponsors. Other fundraising events that went on throughout the weekend include a silent auction, a kids fair and a 5K/10K run. This year students packed 12,548 bags of food reaching an amazing 830 hours of service work and raised almost $70,000 on the Saturday of the marathon. Through the money raised for Blessings in a Backpack, 9,200 children will be be fed on weekends for an entire year, that is about 350,000 meals for food-insecure children around Chicago.
NUDM started in 1975 and since then has raised more that $18 million for various beneficiaries throughout the years, over $1 million of that going to the Evanston Community Foundation.
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