WABI covers dance marathon, fundraiser

WABI (Channel 5) reported on the University of Maine’s Black BearTHON, a 12-hour dance marathon and fundraiser, held in the Memorial Union. Since 2012, the annual event has raised more than $320,000 to help area hospitals support local children. The funds support the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, an EMHS Foundation Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. More than 600 participants raised funds this year. “All year, teams register, raise money from their friends and their family, and then this event tonight is a 12-hour dance marathon where the Miracle Children get to come in who have benefited from that money, and then they get to meet up with their team captain, and the teams can rally behind these children to celebrate the chances that they’ve been given, because of the money,” said UMaine student Austin Steward, the event’s dance relations chairman.