Contact: Sammy McDavid
For 24 straight hours next month, Mississippi State University students will dance their hearts--and feet--out for LeBonheur Children's Medical Center.
To be held in the Newell-Grissom Building on Bully Boulevard, the 1999 MSU Dance Marathon is being organized by the Children's Miracle Network, an international non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds for and awareness of children's hospitals.
Open to the public, the no-sitting, no-sleeping campus challenge begins Feb. 27 at 10 a.m. and concludes at the same time the following day.
The Children's Miracle Network was established in 1983 to generate support and awareness of hospital programs that benefit children with special needs. All donations raised through the events go directly to designated CMN hospitals like Memphis, Tenn.-based LeBonheur.
Founded in 1952, LeBonheur is the Mid-South's leading pediatric medical center, as well as the teaching facility of the University of Tennessee, Memphis' pediatrics department. The 225-bed hospital serves more than 100,000 children in portions of Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Missouri.
More than 300 dancers are expected to participate in the second such benefit in as many years coordinated by Mississippi State's Office of Student Life and the Panhellenic and Interfraternity councils.
Music for the event will be provided by live bands and radio broadcasts. Games, contests, line dancing, theme hours, and testimonials from Children's Miracle Network families also will be part of the program.
Last year's MSU marathon drew 250 hoofers.
For additional information, telephone the Office of Student Life at (601) 325-3322 or Elizabeth McCarty at 325-4687.
Persons wishing to provide money, products, time, or other donations may contact Mary Balfour VanZandt at 325-9200.