ITHACA, N.Y. - Ithaca College Athletics is again partnering with Ithaca College BomberTHON for the student organization's 2021 event.

BomberTHON is proud to be hosting its second annual Dance Marathon event to raise money for Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital in Syracuse, New York. BomberTHON will take place virtually on April 10, 2021 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. utilizing Zoom and social media live streaming. 

BomberTHON is part of a larger movement of Miracle Network Dance Marathons to benefit Children's Miracle Network Hospitals on over 400 college campuses in the United States and Canada. The Children's Miracle Network is a non-profit organization that raises funds and awareness for more than 170 pediatric hospitals across North America.

The first annual BomberTHON in December 2019 raised over $28,000, nearly doubling its goal of $15,000 and more than tripling the first-year Dance Marathon average of $9,000. A large portion of the funds came from Ithaca College Athletics, with teams raising $7,194 collectively. The top fundraising team was Women's Crew with $2,064.00, followed by Men's Lacrosse with $980.00 and Men's Soccer with $785.00. 

Student representatives from the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) were responsible for tracking the fundraising success of their team. Over 60 athletes attended last year's event and teams presented special gifts to 13-year-old Damon Goga, a cancer survivor treated at Upstate Golisano. 

This year, the event is looking a little different. The BomberTHON team has switched gears to create a fully virtual Dance Marathon. The day will include trivia, a Zumba class, live DJ, and speeches from families and children treated at Upstate Golisano. Ithaca Swimming and Diving is helping BomberTHON orchestrate a Rubber Ducky Derby during the event. 

"It has definitely been a challenge adjusting our operations to fit the pandemic, but it has been so inspiring to watch people pull together to raise funds for Upstate," said BomberTHON Executive Director Laura Heppes. "It will make seeing our final fundraising total even more worthwhile." 

The idea for BomberTHON first came about in April of 2018 when Heppes was scrolling through Instagram and saw a video of Dance Marathon at Florida State University. She showed the video to Lee Folger, now Captain of the Men's Soccer team, who had participated in a University of North Carolina-affiliated Dance Marathon in high school. The two realized the opportunity to start a Dance Marathon at Ithaca College and got to work.

Teams have taken to raising money in creative ways in light of COVID-19. The swimming and diving teams created an Instagram dare board challenge where friends and family could donate to have team members complete dares. The teams performed the dares following their meet on March 20, racking up more than $4,000 of donations in the process. 

"BomberTHON was a very fun, exciting, and uniting experience that brought the Swimming and Diving teams closer than they have been in a long time," said diver Lindsey Duhamel. "Especially during these uncertain times of COVID-19 where we are not able to interact with each other in our typical ways, the Instagram Dare Board Challenge created a lot of excitement. It was a way to come together as a collective unit and allow for laughter through silly dares, all while raising money for an amazing cause."

The BomberTHON Executive Board includes four student-athletes. Caitlin McGrinder of the women's golf team serves as the Director of Hospital Relations, Emma Fruhling of the women's soccer serves as Co-Director of Digital Media and Promotions, Owen Johnstone of men's soccer serves as Co-Director of Event Operations, and Lee Folger of men's soccer serves as Co Morale Chair. 

"Being a part of bringing Dance Marathon to IC is one of the things I'll leave Ithaca being most proud of," said Folger. "It was also a great honor to bring together two of the most impactful elements of my college experience: intercollegiate athletics and BomberTHON. The partnership between our amazing student organization and IC Athletics is one that I know will continue to grow in scope and reach, benefiting our community for many years to come." 

If you are interested in donating, please visit this link: https://events.dancemarathon.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.event&eventID=4019 . You will be prompted to donate to a specific athletic team if desired. The field hockey, women's tennis, gymnastics, golf, women's soccer, women's basketball, and football teams have created DonorDrive pages to date. 

BomberTHON would like to thank Ithaca Athletics and all of its donors for their continued support.