Students at Pace flooded into the Briarcliff campus’ Perk Café this past Tues., Sept. 16 for the Pace 4 Kids (P4K) kick-off event, a prelude to the 12 hour dance marathon hosted by the organization in November.

The dance marathon is well recognized as student representatives attended a dance marathon leadership conference in Chicago this past summer, hosted by the Children’s Miracle Network. On behalf of P4K, those select students presented the family engagement workshop at the conference.

“We really connected with the patients and the families and that’s because of the hospital itself,” said Stephanie Trupel, P4K logistics director and student representative at the conference. “They are not treated as patients that come and go, they are treated like family. It kind of reminds you where we are, what we are doing and why we’re doing it.”

The P4K philanthropy fundraises and donates to the benefit of Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center. Despite being a developing organization, Pace set a precedent that other university dance marathons will try emulate.

“It’s amazing how that happened so quickly,” said Caity Kirschbaum, Assistant Manager of Marketing and Community Relations at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center and P4K advisor. “Statistically, in order to make a change on a campus you need four years, but I’ll take one. Pace is small, but we’re mighty, we get things done.”

The motto for P4K is “we dance for the kids who can’t.” As the kick-off event commenced, P4K was introduced along with the executives of the organization. An opening video was played giving insight into Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital along with P4K’s involvement. According to P4K’s Facebook page, last year they officially raised over $30,000.

“The money we received last year and the future years are going to pay for a patient-friendly, outdoor jungle gym,” Kirschbaum said. “A playground for kids that are going through chemotherapy that are allowed to be outside for a little while.”

Performances by students followed the video. Those acts included: singing, guitar playing, beatboxing, and step and stroll. The event had the same kind of upbeat atmosphere that is prominent at the dance marathon.

“I’m a believer that everyone can shake and groove it if they try,” P4K advisor Sam Brassford said. “We’re still in the works for the night of stuff but we are definitely doing more stations this year– a lot of interaction with the patients themselves. Their children are smiling, they’re going through the scariest time of their life and they don’t even realize it because of how great the staff is there and the surroundings.”

Returning this year are patients of the hospital to the dance marathon. P4K executives are hoping for a greater turnout with patients and participants this year.

“This is one of the things that you’re actually able to make a difference in the lives of sick kids and that is one of those things that you can’t get everywhere, which is really great,” Kirschbaum said. “We’re talking to a lot of patient families and they are so excited to come to P4K and they don’t even know what we’re talking about yet.”