Dance Marathon, the annual all-night dance party fundraiser, wrapped up this week at Northwestern University. Northwestern set the fundraising bar high last year with a record-breaking $933,855, and again reached high for this year’s 30-hour event. Students who planned the event said they were concerned that the economic recession would negatively affect their fundraising, and while they might have recruited more donors in happier financial times, the planning committee was thrilled with the outcome. Northwestern raised $917,834 and recruited over 1,000 dancers – more student participation than ever before. Northwestern donates the majority of its funds to Project Kindle, an organization that sponsors summer camps for kids with HIV/AIDS. Throughout the months of March and April, Dance Marathons will continue to run down the clocks at colleges and universities across the country. Each year, Dance Marathons raise millions of dollars for child cancer research and other pediatric causes.

More from the Daily Northwestern: http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2009/03/06/Campus/Dance.Marathon.Fights.Recession.Raises.917k-3664489.shtml

Check out Northwestern’s Dance Marathon Blog: http://www.nudm.org/index.php