I’m just going to put it out there: I don’t understand why Dance Marathon is such a big thing here at FSU.

Before you lose your hats and scream at me about the miracle children and #FTK and how you stand on your feet for two days, let me explain myself.

Dance Marathon is a good cause. It raises money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals to help fund research and care for sick children. Nothing about this is bad.

What throws me off is that there are other charities that do things similar to this and they don’t have the same cult following that DM does.

Relay for Life raises funds for the American Cancer Society. Light the Night supports the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Muscle Walks raise money for Muscular Dystrophy Association.

All of these events also occur in Tallahassee. Why is it that they don’t get the same mass recognition on FSU’s campus that Dance Marathon does? Are they not “cool” enough? They don’t have Miracle Children so it’s not as fun?

These organizations are nationally recognized. Relay for Life is in over 500 campuses across the country, which is twice as many as Dance Marathon. Dance Marathon is only a big thing down in the southern states. WHY?!

I understand that Shands is only a couple hours away. Also, if you type “dance marathon” into Google, the first six results all involve Florida State in some way.

As a college, we are in the national spotlight for our work with Dance Marathon, and that’s beyond amazing. What I want to see is our community working as hard as it is with Dance Marathon with the other charities.

Relay for Life is in April. There’s still time to set up a fundraising page and get donations! The Tallahassee Muscle Walk is in October – get together a team and fundraise! Light the Night is in November! Mark your calendars and get a group of friends to go.

There are so many Facebook posts, Instagram posts, and tweets clogging up my feeds with #FTK #FSUDM. If we redirected our efforts to equally support all these great organizations, just imagine the good we would be able to do!

I’m not ragging on Dance Marathon or anyone who participates in it. I’m just calling for us college students to understand that other events do happen and if you’re going to fundraise for literally a year for one cause, while that is remarkable, it could also be done in a way where you fundraise for multiple causes over the course of a year and spread the love.

So, yeah, that’s my message: Spread the Love.