{"id":155320,"date":"2024-11-08T09:34:09","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T14:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=155320"},"modified":"2024-11-08T09:34:09","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T14:34:09","slug":"miracle-makers-mark-half-a-million-ways-wright-state-students-help-hospitalized-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2024\/11\/08\/miracle-makers-mark-half-a-million-ways-wright-state-students-help-hospitalized-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Miracle Makers mark half-a-million ways Wright State students help hospitalized children"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Wright State Miracle Makers, a student-run organization that organizes the annual Raiderthon dance marathon, has raised more than $500,000 for Dayton Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p><\/div>\n

A Wright State University student organization recently celebrated a milestone: raising $500,000 to help locally hospitalized children. The money was raised through efforts that brought joy, tried to ameliorate pain and elicited emotions.<\/p>\n

Wright State Miracle Makers<\/a> is a student-run organization that raises funds for Dayton Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mission is to raise awareness and funds to enhance the quality of care and create opportunity for local kids at Dayton Children\u2019s Hospital,\u201d said Ashley Greene, the group\u2019s president.<\/p>\n

In its 11 years of fundraising, Miracle Makers hit the $500,000 mark this semester. To raise awareness of its mission, Miracle Makers held a Half-A-Million Celebration in the Student Union on Oct. 23.<\/p>\n

The group raises money from various events throughout the year and is now gearing up for its signature fundraiser, Raiderthon<\/a>, which will be held on March 29, 2025, from 11:30 a.m. to midnight in the Apollo Room of the Student Union.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our most important event of the year. I absolutely love it,\u201d said Greene, a senior organizational leadership major from Springboro.<\/p>\n

Raiderthon is a dance marathon, but dancing is only part of the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have other events throughout the day \u2014 music, games, raffles, inflatables, food, a silent disco, lip sync battles, lots of different activities,\u201d Greene said.<\/p>\n

Money is raised through registration fees, sponsorships and donations on behalf of participants, which last year numbered nearly 300.<\/p>\n

Raiderthon is one of about 400 such events coordinated by dance marathon organizations. Miracle Makers is part of the Children\u2019s Miracle Network.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s really cool about the Children\u2019s Miracle Network is that the money raised stays local. Dayton Children\u2019s Hospital is the closest one to us,\u201d Greene said.<\/p>\n

The $500,000 mark is significant for Wright State\u2019s Miracle Makers, said its advisor, Gina Keucher, associate director of student involvement and leadership.<\/p>\n

While bigger universities raise larger amounts with giant dance marathons, Keucher reminds Wright State students to \u201clook cumulatively at the difference you are making, the impact you have, giving back to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keucher added, \u201cThat\u2019s why I love being the advisor to this group, seeing that they realize the impact they make.\u201d<\/p>\n

For instance, during Raiderthon families and children who have been helped through the students\u2019 efforts visit and tell their stories of success through hard times. She said there are special moments called Angel Hours, where a family will share a story about a son or daughter who did not survive, but the students\u2019 efforts still made a positive impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat moment for me as a mom of four boys, I can\u2019t imagine the strength of a parent. For our students to see that they\u2019re making that kind of a difference is wonderful,\u201d Keucher said.<\/p>\n

Keucher, who has served as the Miracle Makers advisor since 2019, has high praise for this year\u2019s group.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re really beginning to see that they can do more. They have the potential to do good things,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019ve set a goal of $62,000, which would be the highest raised to date. I think they have a really good chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 25 students participate in Miracle Makers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all want to do something positive in the community,\u201d Greene said. \u201cThat\u2019s the common bond.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wright State Miracle Makers, a student organization that organizes the annual Raiderthon dance marathon, has raised more than $500,000 for Dayton Children\u2019s Hospital. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":155332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[729,2025,725,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-campus","category-community-service","category-home-news-sidebar","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155320"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155340,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155320\/revisions\/155340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}