BuckeyThon’s 2019 donation reveal at the annual dance marathon fundraiser. | Credit: Courtesy of Ishan Patel

Although the pandemic has slowed down events and fundraisers across the country, the fight to end pediatric cancer is pushing BuckeyeThon forward. 

BuckeyeThon, a year-long campaign dedicated to raising money for pediatric cancer research, will not have its annual dance marathon in the Ohio Union due to COVID-19. The dance marathon normally includes two 12-hour-long shifts of non-stop dancing, games and events. Instead, the dance marathon will be reduced to one 12-hour event Saturday and will be held virtually. 

Alex Vierling, a fourth-year in health sciences and the vice president of advancement for BuckeyeThon, said throughout the day, there will be 22 performances, a variety of how-to videos, cooking tutorials and clips of BuckeyeThon children.

Vierling said the 2019 dance marathon raised $1,606,087.99, and their goal this year is to reach $2 million. 

“We realized that even though COVID happened and a lot of stuff changed and a lot of life has halted, cancer and blood disorders have not stopped,” Vierling said. 

The $2 million goal represents two decades of BuckeyeThon, as this year is the fundraiser’s 20th anniversary, Vierling said. 

Despite the event being moved up three months, Vierling said the largest struggle with fundraising was not being in person. 

Vierling said there are normally tables set up around campus to encourage students to register. 

“It has been a little difficult to engage campus when obviously we can’t have a physical presence, so we have been trying to do it all virtually,” Vierling said. 

BuckeyeThon has still seen success with the virtual approach, as around 3,800 members registered online, Vierling said. Registration was free this year and was not limited to Ohio State students, so members of the community or students living at home can participate. 

Instead of bake sales or other in-person fundraising, Vierling said team captains have been making bracelets or shirts and doing contactless delivery. 

Vierling said there was a plan to move the event to the fall regardless of COVID-19, and the number of other large colleges that host their dance marathons in the fall helped in the BuckeyeThon committee’s decision making. 

Ishan Patel, a fourth-year in physics and the president of BuckeyeThon, said among the other universities BuckeyeThon spoke with, Indiana University — home to the No. 1 dance marathon in the country — also hosts their event in the fall.

“The plan was to register all the folks in September during childhood cancer awareness month,” Patel said. “Then from the end of September, October and into November, the folks will be more engaged in BuckeyeThon because they would have such a short time between registering and also going to the dance marathon.”

Vierling said the committee hopes the event happening in the fall will allow them to spend more time in the spring on recruitment for the next year and focus on fundraising in the summer and fall. 

“We wanted more of a balanced year; we thought it made more sense logistically for what we were trying to accomplish with recruitment,” Vierling said. 

The committee will spend the spring giving back to everyone who showed support for the previous dance marathon, Patel said.

“We could turn our focus to thanking them for their support and hard work and just showing them their impact on the hospital,” Patel said. “Then also putting on different events like our fashion show and barbecue and other things to really just show our campus that we care about them and appreciate all they have done for the kids.”

Patel said this year the committee has tried to create cause-connecting fundraising, so a lot of strategies have been to remind members that they are doing this for the children and fighting for the cause. 

“I think what’s been cool about this year is that we’ve had the chance to recenter on our cause, which is being for the kids,” Patel said. 

BuckeyeThon will take place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on a Twitch livestream posted on BuckeyeThon’s website.