Pace 4 Kids (P4K) hosted its kick-off event Wednesday on Miller Lawn to get students to register for their annual dance marathon, in order to raise funds for Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital.

The dance marathon itself is scheduled for the night of November 21 at Kessel Student Center. It is programmed to last for 12 hours. Every hour students will learn 30 seconds of a different dance, and at the end of the night they will perform the entire choreography.

A 10 dollars donation is required to register. All donations are given to Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital.

The theme of the kick-off was sweets for superheroes because in the eyes of P4K the hospitalized children are superheroes. To go with the theme, P4K offered attendees free sweets like brownies, cupcakes, cookies, and candy. The organizers also set up a bonfire for students to roast s’mores.

Reaction to the kick off was positive, attracting the attention of students from multiple organizations, years, and even alumni.

“This is my first year being here, it seems really fun, and there’s a lot of sweet, sweet stuff, which is really great. This [event] really draws people together, even though usually people stay within their own groups,” junior Mario Pichardo said. “It also draws people out, what else would people be doing right now? They’d be in their rooms.”

Alumnus and former Student Government president John Wrench came to show his support.

“I’m glad to see this happening, considering two years ago we didn’t know if this was even going to be something. To actually see a bunch of students here, it feels secure that [P4K] is going to be a tradition, and not something that just fizzles out,” Wrench said.

The dance will be on its third iteration; the previous years were both successful.

“For our first year the goal was $20,000, and we raised $29,000 which is pretty impressive, and last year we raised a little over $30,000,” said P4K’s Special Events and Projects Director Melissa Bergholz.

P4K is still looking for food donations from local small businesses. According to P4K, this will also be beneficial for the businesses because P4K will provide them with promotion, and exposure to over 500 college students.

Students who cannot be present for the marathon itself are not barred from supporting the cause, and those who missed the kick-off can still register at pace4kids.com.

“You can still show up, register, and fundraise for P4K, without coming to P4K. Even if you cannot attend the event because you have other commitments, you can still donate the 10 dollars, and have other people donate,” said P4K logistics director Christina Basso.