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Want to relive your favorite Marathon memory? Did you never get the chance to dance, but always wanted to? Here’s your chance to get involved! An improvement this year, Rutgers alumni will have the op- portunity to dance in four hour blocks. Alumni may register to participate for as many blocks as they wish or all thirty-two hours. For each registered block, $50 must be raised. It’s easy and convenient to find a block that fits your schedule. Sign up at www.marathon.rutgers.edu/alumni/ register.php . All alumni will receive a limited edi- tion dancer t-shirt. Take this chance to connect with other alums for a good cause and join us for a fun-filled weekend Last years grand total, for the kids! The First Ever Spirit Week In efforts to really get the Rutgers community pumped for DM. We are having our First Spirit Week! From March 2 through March 5 there will be DM stations, our infamous Tall Tables, on all five Rutgers’ cam- puses. There will of course be giveaways to spread awareness for DM, plus who doesn’t like free stuff? Each night we will have res- taurant sponsorships where a percentage of the money raised between al- lotted hours will go to Em- brace Kids. On Monday, March 2 from 3-4pm we will be having a Dancer’s Crash Course at Passion Puddle, where we will ex- pose the registered dancers to different kinds of dances. On Tuesday night from 8-10pm, we will be sponsoring a DM Karaoke Night at the Riverside Lounge in the Student Ac- tivities Center. Wednesday is DM Gear Day! People will be able to purchase new gear at the Tall Tables too. Thursday night is the greatest of the events. Our first ever DM Pep Rally! The Pep Rally will be held from 8- 10pm and we would love you to join us! Stay tuned for more exact de- tails of the week but be sure to mark Spirit Week on your calendars! Alumni, So You Think You Can Dance? February 1, 2009 Volume 11, Issue 1, Alumni Edition INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Inside the BOD 2 What about the Economy 3 Embrace Kids Foundation 3 This Year’s Entertainment 4 Mission: DM 4 Donating 4 Update Contact Info 4 By: Alyssa Gentile, Director of Community Outreach By: Jennifer Ross Rutgers University Dance Marathon

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Page 1: Rutgers Dance Marathon- Alumni Dancer

Want to relive your favorite Marathon memory? Did you never get the chance to dance, but always wanted to? Here’s your chance to get involved! An improvement this year, Rutgers alumni will have the op-portunity to dance in four hour blocks. Alumni may register to participate for as many blocks as they wish or all thirty-two hours. For each registered block, $50 must be raised. It’s easy and convenient to find a block that fits your schedule.

Sign up at www.marathon.rutgers.edu/alumni/register.php. All alumni will receive a limited edi-

tion dancer t-shirt. Take this chance to connect with other alums for a good cause and join us for a fun-filled weekend

Last years grand total, for the kids!

The First Ever Spirit Week

In efforts to really get the Rutgers community pumped for DM. We are having our First Spirit

Week! From March 2 through March 5 there will be DM stations, our infamous Tall Tables, on all five Rutgers’ cam-puses. There will of course be giveaways to spread awareness for DM, plus who doesn’t like free stuff? Each night we will have res-taurant sponsorships

where a percentage of the money raised between al-lotted hours will go to Em-brace Kids. On Monday, March 2 from 3-4pm we will be having a Dancer’s Crash Course at Passion Puddle, where we will ex-pose the registered dancers to different kinds of dances. On Tuesday night from 8-10pm, we will be sponsoring a DM Karaoke Night at the Riverside Lounge in the Student Ac-tivities Center.

Wednesday is DM Gear Day! People will be able to purchase new gear at the Tall Tables too. Thursday night is the greatest of the events. Our first ever DM Pep Rally! The Pep Rally will be held from 8-10pm and we would love you to join us! Stay tuned for more exact de-tails of the week but be sure to mark Spirit Week on your calendars!

Alumni, So You Think You Can Dance?

February 1, 2009 Volume 11, Issue 1, Alumni Edition

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Inside the BOD 2

What about the Economy 3

Embrace Kids Foundation 3

This Year’s Entertainment 4

Mission: DM 4

Donating 4

Update Contact Info 4

By: Alyssa Gentile, Director of Community Outreach

By: Jennifer Ross Rutgers University

Dance Marathon

Page 2: Rutgers Dance Marathon- Alumni Dancer

With Dance Marathon just a few months away, the Board of Direc-tors are working harder than ever to make this Marathon the best and most beneficial for the kids! The six directors on board this year have a lot of great new ideas and changes under way to make their goals a reality. I spoke with Mike Speziale, Director of Finance, to get the scoop on what’s going on this year.

Speziale’s first priority right now is securing all the necessary funds to hold the marathon. In conjunction with his Assistant Directors and captains, the Finance team is coordinating fundraising events, canning dates, corporate solicitation and securing funds from student fees and gov-erning associations. This year, Speziale is focusing on fostering a stronger relationship with Rutgers Athletics, which has proved bene-ficial for fundraising opportunities.

Jeremy Bond is this year’s Director of Operations, a promotion from his position of Captain last year, where he won an award for Most Spirited Captain. Bond is respon-sible for making everyone feel welcome at DM as well as opera-tions and catering. This year, the DM community will be greatly strengthened as visitors and par-ticipants will feel more welcomed.

Plans are in the works for a DM village with sponsors tables.

The Recruitment team’s head is Tom Keating, a former Assistant

Director for the Outreach team and volunteer for the marathon. Keating, affectionately called “the apple of Speziale’s eye,” is making a push for involvement from non-Greek organizations, particularly in residence halls.

Alyssa Gentile is this year’s Direc-tor of Community Outreach. Her main focus is Spirit Week, which is the newest addition to the marathon. Spirit Week, Alyssa’s pride and joy, will be a week long celebra-tion to get people psyched for the big weekend. Gentile is also pleased about the record number of applicants for the Adopt-a-Family Program, with more applicants than families available!

Nicole Hreno, Director of Enter-tainment, is going to bring fun and activities to a whole new level this year. Last year, she was the AD of tournaments and line dances, act-ing as an almost-Emcee of the marathon.

Ross Wagner is this year’s Direc-tor of Volunteer Management. His main goal this year is getting vol-unteers more involved, through the creation of committees. Through this transition, Wagner hopes to improve morale. By getting people involved earlier, they will be able to have a stronger influence on the marathon and increase the final product.

In addition to a fantastic Board of Directors, Dance Marathon has its first Graduate Assistant, Jen Pow-ers. She’s providing coaching to all of the Directors and Assistant Directors. Powers is just one of the alumni that are still incredibly involved after graduation, provid-ing ideas and assistance whenever possible.

With new

programs,

entertain-

ment goals,

committees

and the crea-

tion of a

spirit week and other activities to

increase the community, this

year’s Dance Marathon proves to

be the best yet.

The Inside Scoop on the BOD & Their Plans

Page 2

Some of the Board and Central Planning Team while

volunteering at an RU Football Game.

“...a record number of applicants

for the Adopt-a-Family Program,

with more applicants than

By: Kaitlyn Herthel

Page 3: Rutgers Dance Marathon- Alumni Dancer

The Embrace Kids Foundation

Primarily, DM this year will target Rutgers Alumni - specifically those with existing records of donation to the University and those who are members of Greek Organizations - in an effort to recruit new donors. The team is also busy visiting new busi-nesses in the Central New Jersey area to ask them to join the DM family of donors while also en-couraging their generosity by providing additional levels of giving in our advertising structure specifically designed for small business owners.

The team is encouraging all donors to check and see if their employer offers a "matching gift" program to in-stantly double a gift to DM.

The Finance Team is also busy pro-moting several websites DM has partnered with to raise money for the kids. The first, http://www.goodsearch.com is a search-engine, like Google, that donates about 1.3 cents to DM every time a user searches the internet and indi-cates the Rutgers Dance Marathon as

their preferred charity. GoodSearch has a subsidiary, http://www.goodshop.com, that donates a percentage of your online purchases on popular sites like Amazon.com and Ebay.com to DM in a similar fashion. Another website, http://www.firstgiving.com, allows indi-

viduals to cre-ate fundraising pages for DM, and also gen-erates custom

e-mail messages to friends asking for donations.

It is the hope of the student planners of this year's Dance Marathon that by adding new donors while giving existing donors opportunities to do-nate more to DM will help reduce any effect of the nation's economic crisis on our fundraising goals. But, DM's success is by no means guar-anteed. The Finance Team continues developing new fundraising meth-ods and implementing new plans each week, in the hope that we will sustain our financial commitment to the Embrace Kids Foundation, even in the worst of economic times.

The nation's economic crisis is leading the student planners of this year's Dance Marathon to brace for fewer individual donations and do-nors. This is due to a national trend of less charitable giving when po-tential donors are dealing with smaller household budgets.

According to a recent survey by GuideStar, a non-profit organiza-tion which tracks philanthropic giv-ing, 35% of charities reported that giving was down compared to 2007. Respondents' reasons for these declines were fewer donors, smaller amounts donated and smaller corporate gifts.

For the past decade, DM relied pri-marily on small gifts from the fam-ily and friends of Rutgers students, New Brunswick residents, and New Jersey based businesses for its do-nation income. In order to combat a decrease in donations from these groups, the DM Finance Team has put together an ambitious proposal to not only recruit new donors, but to also give existing donors oppor-tunities to donate more.

Taking the Tough Economy Into Consideration

Volume 11, Issue 1, Alumni Edition Page 3

By: Mike Speziale, Director of Finance

The Embrace Kids Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in New Brunswick, NJ affiliated with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, a hospi-tal known for its excellence in child treatment. Em-brace Kids raises money for the non-medical needs of children with cancer and blood disorders.

Formerly named The Institute for Children with Cancer and Blood Dis-orders, Embrace Kids helps fund eve-rything from in-hospital tutoring to

paying the mortgages for families overrun with medical bills. The Founda-tion also plans many events

and parties throughout the year. Embrace Kids sponsors the Adopt-a-Family Program which allows Rut-

gers University students to get in-volved by being matched up with patient families who are currently in treatment, building relationships and supporting the families. A new addition to the program, Joanna is a high school freshman. Cared for by the sisters of Alpha Chi Omega, Joanna is an honor student and avid drawer, looking forward to this year’s marathon.

By: Marisa Glassman

Page 4: Rutgers Dance Marathon- Alumni Dancer

Director of Finace

15 Bartlett Street

New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901

Phone: 732-932-8725

feel. 52 Pickup will also be sure to rile up the crowd with their sheer energy. And for all those Bob Marley fans, you won’t be disap-pointed by Verdict, a reggae band

sure to deliver some tunes bursting with “Caribbean flavor”. Finally, if you’re still dreaming of spring break, you will be happily whisked

Haven’t been to a concert in some time? Don’t have money to let loose, get your blood pumping and listen to the best music around? If so, look no further than this year’s Dance Marathon.

With a killer lineup of entertain-ment, this year’s Dance Marathon looks to be on par with the likes of a highly anticipated concert at the Roseland Ballroom. Among the bands scheduled to perform are The Nerds and Big Daddy, two bands who are both extremely popular at the Jersey Shore. Chris Batten and the Woods, hailing from Manville, NJ, will also make an appearance. The Woods with a “classic soul-infused rock n roll”

away to the land of piña coladas and palm trees by Jimmy and the Parrots, a Jimmy Buffett cover.

Aside from the rocking musical line up, this year we will be trans-forming the “Barn” into Holly-wood as we use the theme to really liven things up. D’element, an marathon long arcade room, prom-ises to be a huge hit, with games to pass the time and prizes up for grabs.

The 11th annual Rutgers Dance Marathon will successfully trans-form the College Avenue Gym into an incredible concert venue and place to really make memories – for the kids! You won’t want to miss it!

2009’s Entertainment Preview

Dance Marathon is more than just a 32-hour student-run philanthropic event. It's more than being with your friends for a great (but long!) weekend, more than getting involved in the community and helping the Embrace Kids Foundation. Dance Marathon strives to create a community of caring at Rutgers University and provide leadership opportunities and experiences for those involved. It unites students, the community, and the families of children with cancer and blood disorders, in an effort to raise money and increase awareness for Embrace Kids Foundation. This non-profit organization aids the non-medical needs of children, including community costs to and from treatment centers. Last year, Organizers, dancers, and volunteers fundraised $318,989.08. Now entering its 11th year, the marathon has donated $1.6 million to the foundation.

Want to Donate?

Stay in touch & update your

alumni contact info at http://

marathon.rutgers.edu/alumni/

Send donations to:

Editor-in-Chief

Angelica Grimaldi

E-mail:

[email protected]

Assistant Editor

Danielle Egnozzi

By: Christina Amari

MISSION: DM