Shamrockin for Riley

FHS donates $86,180.63 to Riley Hospital for Children

Ameera Tai, ReporterMarch 27, 2023Leave a Comment

Photo by Ameera Tai.

Students attending Riley Dance Marathon on March 17 hold up signs displaying $86,409.92 was donated this year to the organization. Many students, donors and sponsors allowed the club to surpass 2022’s amount raised of $80,180.63.

   On March 17, students came together to dance, perform lip-synching contests and jump in bounce houses for five hours all in support of kids at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health. Every year, those in the Riley Dance Marathon club (RDM) coordinate an event to excite students about donating money to kids admitted into Riley Hospital. This year, with the theme of Shamrockin for Riley as it took place on St. Patrick’s Day, over $86,000 was donated to Riley from the FHS student body.

    “The guest speakers were my favorite part of the whole marathon,” senior Jacob Richardson said. “It was so awesome to see the people we were affecting and hearing how much it meant to them.”

    One major element of RDM is its dedication towards giving the opportunity to kids at Riley to share their story with others. Multiple families impacted by the donations spoke at the event. The parents of one child Riley kid spoke about the obstacles their son was able to overcome with the help of Riley Hospital. Another family told a story about how the nurses at Riley Hospital created a zoo for her when she missed her field trip to the zoo for a medical procedure.

    “Riley dance marathon is about raising money for Riley, but it’s also to help students get involved in their community while helping a bigger cause,” junior Mika Shaw said.

Students watch in excitement as students nominated for royalty perform their lip sync routines. Many activities took place at Riley Dance Marathon such as those effected by the donations speaking about their time at Riley Hospital, students learning coordinated dances, and concessions provided by donating restaurants. (Photo by Ameera Tai.)

    RDM royalty are a series of students looking to raise awareness and money by taking part in events such as lip sync contests and selling baked goods to students. In the lip sync performance, duos running for royalty sang along with and coordinated a dance that students voted on. This year, Richardson and Senior April Brownell won the lip sync performance with their performance of “Breaking Free” from High School Musical and “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga, which included members of the show choirs as back-up dancers.

    During their time at the marathon, a dance committee led everyone in a series of dances that was later filmed and can be watched on the Fishers Dance Marathon instagram account. Additionally, a series of restaurants and companies such as Ford’s Garage, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Sweetgreen and Subway helped cater and fund the event. 

    “RDM makes a difficult process a lot easier on kids,” said Shaw. “It supports fun activities for kids that may have to miss out on childhood milestones due to their reason for being at Riley.”