Freshman shares personal connection with Dance Marathon cause

Every student participating in Dance Marathon has a reason. A reason to drop their extra change into a red bucket during a Miracle Minute. A reason to join a Dance Marathon committee. A reason to cry when the total amount of money raised is revealed after a grueling 12 hours of standing. A reason to dance.

Freshman public relations major Morgan Polizzi has collected $2,455 of the $4,536 raised by the Riley Relations Committee freshmen for Dance Marathon this year. Her reason hits a little closer to home than most. In August of 2013, the beginning of Polizzi’s senior year at Carmel High School, her world changed completely. 

Her younger brother Jack Polizzi was gearing up for his freshman year on the soccer team at Guerin Catholic High School when his family received the results from a blood test. He had leukemia. 

“It changed our lives,” Morgan said. “It isn’t something that you expect to happen to someone you love.”

Morgan and her family spent nearly a year in and out of Riley Hospital for Children with her brother, who received chemotherapy treatments on and off.

Two weeks at the hospital, one week home. That was the schedule. Polzzi’s mom frequently reminded the family, “this is the new normal.”

But in the tough months that Jack spent at Riley, Morgan remembers some good happening at the hospital.

On Thanksgiving 2013, the hospital was the last place Morgan and her family wanted to be, but they were able to have a full Thanksgiving dinner along with other Riley families.

On many occasions, she remembers watching her brother happily play Xbox in a game room at the hospital.

These things that made life spent in a hospital a little more bearable came thanks to money raised through Dance Marathons across the state, including Ball State’s.

“It’s cool that the money raised from Dance Marathon goes towards more than just treatments and saving lives, but also the experience that the kids have there,” Morgan said. “It’s more than just a hospital. They really make it a comfortable place for families to actually live there.”

Inspired by what she experienced, Morgan started raising her own money. She began by selling “Attack with Jack” bracelets she designed herself at her high school, Carmel High School, for $1 each, donating all of the proceeds to Carmel’s own Dance Marathon.

Her last year of high school, Morgan donated over $1,000. She received the “Honorary Morale Award” at Carmel’s Dance Marathon in February 2014 for her fundraising efforts. Despite these accomplishments, her work with Dance Marathon was just beginning.

“I really realized that I had a passion for it and I wanted to give back to Riley for what they had given to my brother,” she said.

Morgan brought more than her wardrobe and decorations to college - she brought her passion. She made it her goal to get involved with the university’s Dance Marathon. Though at an entirely new school, the cause remained the same.

According to the Ball State Dance Marathon website, all the funds raised through Dance Marathon go directly to Riley Children’s Hospital, specifically funding the Magic Castle Cart program, a rolling cart that distributes over 200,000 toys each year to children staying at the hospital, and the Palliative Care Program, which focuses on “specialized medical care for children with serious illnesses.”

Morgan reached out to upperclassmen involved in the Riley Relations committee, a group that works one-on-one with over 40 Riley kids and families that Ball State’s Dance Marathon supports. Morgan received an interview for the mostly upperclassman committee, a rare occurrence for a freshman, according to Riley Relations co-director Brandon Puszkiewicz.

But soon after her interview, Morgan got the call that she was in.

“I was thrilled,” Morgan said, but she knew that the hard work was just beginning. Morgan and the committee started working long before this week by planning themed holiday parties for the Riley kids and their families.

Morgan might be one of only five freshmen on the Riley Relations committee, but being a freshman isn’t her only claim to fame on the team. On Tuesday, she received the Committee Member of the Year award. She's also raised $2,455 so far, surpassing her original goal of $2,000.

The committee’s fundraising goal this year is a lofty $500,000, $155,199 more than last year’s amount raised.

In order to surpass her personal goal, Morgan spent a lot of time “annoying the crap” out of her sorority sisters in Alpha Omicron Pi, she said. She posts frequent reminders on the group’s Facebook page and even promises a Greeks pizza party if every member reaches their personal fundraising goal.

“I’m trying to motivate girls in any way that I can,” she said.

Her persistence worked. After reaching her original goal of raising $2,000, Morgan raised her goal to $2,500 right away.

“Because why not?” she said with a laugh. She knows first-hand just how much that extra $500 can do for the families and kids at Riley.

Things are looking brighter for Morgan's brother Jack, who’s now a sophomore at Guerin Catholic High School.

“He’s back in school, back on the soccer field and in remission,” Morgan said. “Riley really does work miracles.” 

It’s why she dances. 

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