Greeks Gather to Battle Childhood Cancer at NYU’s Fifth Dance Marathon
Students from NYU’s Greek organizations assembled for a 12-hour dance marathon Saturday, a culmination of months of planning and fundraising. In their highest earning year yet, the dancers raised over $600,000 for the B+ Foundation, an organization that provides financial and emotional support to children battling pediatric cancer.
Gallatin junior and Alpha Sigma Tau member Kat Facchini was in charge of keeping morale high throughout the day, but by halfway through the marathon, her job seemed unnecessary. Fueled by Yerba Mate, Joe’s Pizza, and tens of other local vendors, students dance to Super Bass so intensely that the ground vibrated.
“I’m sorry it’s so loud right now. When Kimmel shakes, you know it’s lit,” Facchini said.
Facchini greeted a group of fanny pack-clad Alpha Sigma Tau sisters, one of whom was giving a piggy-back ride to the sorority’s B+ Hero, 5-year-old Mahlai.
“Do you want some glitter on your face?” Facchini asked. Everyone agreed that Mahlai should put some on, and she is overjoyed to match her big sisters.
“We were introduced to Mahlai a year ago,” Facchini explained. “We go and visit her in the hospital a lot…We had a birthday party for her, and she’s even come to the ΑΣΤ penthouse [in Lafayette] with her family. We played freeze tag, duck duck goose. Anything she wants to do, we do.”
For these organizations, NYDM is more than a day of dancing, or even months of fundraising. It’s about making real, personal connections with their heroes and their families.
“It’s a year round thing; it’s all the time,” said Kappa Kappa Gamma member Kenzie Mullen. “As new sisters and brothers join, they get involved and become friends with [the heroes] as the old ones graduate. We spend years with these families.”
The impact of the Greek organizations’ work was palpable as some of the children and families come onstage to tell their stories, from Kappa Kappa Gamma sisters tutoring their hero, Aubrey, twice a week, to Zeta Beta Tau brothers carrying their hero from the train station to Kimmel for a previous dance marathon because he was unable to walk.
“I was never alone to face this challenge,” said nine-year-old Maya. “I want to thank my sisters and my nurses and my doctors for giving me courage.”
In a genuine and rare display of spirit at NYU, the Greeks jumped up and down, whooping and chanting the children’s names as they were brought onstage and given superhero capes.
Later, NYU President Andrew Hamilton came on stage to address the dancers and volunteers. “When you hear stories like we’ve heard this afternoon, this anchors us all. This matters — what you are doing here matters,” Hamilton said. “Have fun, but know that you are doing something special that you’ll carry with you far beyond 10 this evening.”
At the end of the evening, Kat Facchini was named Dancer of the Year. “I was completely shocked. NYDM has become one of my primary activities at school,” she said. “And I am so thankful to be part of a community that so fiercely fights for a cause.”
