We received the following update from James Buchanan High School in Mercersburg, PA:

Earlier this year, the James Buchanan High School Student Council took the challenge of helping children in need of surgeries in foreign countries with a D4K Dance-a-thon.  The Student Council had always discussed doing a Dance-a-thon and thought it would be a fun thing for the student body to do.  After learning about the “Dance 4 Kids Who Can’t” program from CURE International,  we decided it was a great opportunity.

Planning the unknown was quite the experience, as we had never done anything like the Dance-a-thon and had no idea how many students to plan on for, let alone anything else.  As we planned the event, we successfully got many donations from local businesses, such as 30 gallons of Sweet Tea from Chick-fil-a and many door prizes from other businesses.  We made t-shirts for the event with our technology department’s screen-printing equipment, posted many posters about the Dance-a-thon, had a photobooth, and got a former student to donate his DJ services.

The event turned out to be a fun and successful day, with lots of food, dancing, and games.  As a whole, we raised around $900, $600 of which went directly to CURE.  Looking back on the experience, we learned a lot and raised awareness of the conditions of children in foreign countries.  It’s a great feeling to know that we were able to impact children all over the world and make their lives better.

- Natalie Brant, James Buchanan High School Student Council

You can find photos of this event on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/curekids/dance-for-kids-who-can-t/.  Interested in hosting your own D4K event with your school, group, or organization?  Learn more at http://cure.org/d4k.