This document summarizes the author's experience participating in a 26-hour Dance Marathon event to raise money for charities that support children with HIV/AIDS. The author discusses the various themes throughout the marathon, wearing costumes and having fun with friends while dancing and raising awareness for an important cause. They highlight that together with their team and through community support, they were able to raise over $7,500 to help fund medication, camp programs and other services for children living with HIV/AIDS.

1. This is just a little message to say thank you!

2. This was the weekend of Dance Marathon! It’s a 26-hour event benefiting the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation, Camp Kindle, and Camp Heartland, camps for children living with or affected by HIV/Aids. The Dance Marathon at UCLA is is a unique and unforgettable experience. It has become a tradition at UCLA not only to do it every year but also to grow. Each year, the Dance Marathon at UCLA raises more money and spreads more awareness about the cause - this year we were featured on 3 separate news broadcasts and the L.A. times!

3. I want to sincerely thank you for your support, both financial and emotional, for your help with fundraising and your encouragement. This weekend we didn’t just dance - we danced for a cause, we danced for a cure. Participating in the Dance Marathon is an eye-opening experience every year - it’s always fun and it’s a gripping testament to he difference people can make when they set out to do so.

6. … ready to dance… … for 26 hours straight!

7. So after stretching… … and thanking our feet in advance… Look! Those are mine!

8. we got up and danced!

9. Los Angeles. Big City. Bigger Cause The themes are what got us through it. Every 3 hours - a new LA-related theme… The theme of the night… … every 3 hours - costume change! Just wait till you see mine!

10. 12:00 - 3:00 pm - 90210 Clueless about the cause? AS IF! That’s my little sis from the music sorority! Team Yellow dominated the preppy theme!

12. 6:00 - 9:00pm - Hollywood I decided to be a little more fun. =) Most people went for the glamorous Hollywood. Leopard-print lingerie top… … mismatching belt… Could it get any worse? You should’ve seen my drunk dancing impersonations! … mini skirt… … Uggs… … fishnet stockings…

13. 9:00 - 12:00am - 1984 Olympics Doing the hair flip to the love shack song! JAZZERCISE!

14. but Dance Marathon is about so much more than just dancing. Children are diagnosed with HIV every day . Some live with it not because of their own reckless behavior and not because their mothers had it. One boy who spoke to us, Reggie, is living with HIV he got from a blood transfusion . This can happen to anyone . Do you feel lucky ? I do.

15. 12:00 - 3:00am - Club DM “ Whoa! We’re half way there ! Who-oh! Livin’ on a prayer! Take my hand and we’ll make it , I swear! Who-oh! Livin’ on a prayer!” 13 hours done - 13 to go. The song was very appropriate. Saturday night, we would’ve been dancing at a club anyway, might as well do it for a cause, right?

16. 3:00 - 6:00am - Disneyland These are my Minnie Mouse ears! We couldn’t believe that we were still awake at 5am and still dancing! Our feet were starting to hurt, but the committee didn’t let us forget why we were doing it…

17. We were doing this for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation. And this is how it makes a difference. Benjamin walked up on stage and told 1,000 people about his experiences growing up with HIV. He was diagnosed with the disease at age 4. The doctors told him he would live until 12.

18. Benjamin is 26.

19. Thanks to the medication discovered through the research funded by the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation, Benjamin’s HIV is now undetectable.

20. The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation makes a huge difference in research, advocacy, and education. They are the reason Benjamin and other kids can get that phone call from their doctors, telling them that their HIV is undetectable. I’m proud to have helped.

21. 6:00 - 9:00am - Downtown L.A. My actual work uniform! They played Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” song at 7:23am and it was the highlight of my night!

22. 9:00 - 12:00pm - UCLA School Pride We performed and then went back to dancing! I couldn’t have asked for a better team! That’s me!

23. I know, I know I’m a girl but I can’t help it… I was waiting for James Franco all night. 9:46am - it was glorious. I would’ve preferred no mustache but somehow I survived.

24. February 17th, 1:00pm. We counted down until it was time… And everyone fell down on the floor!

25. So what is all that fundraising worth?

26. As a team, we raised… That’s… 20 days at camp, 100 birthday presents for campers. $7,518.51 342 shots of Nevirapine, which cuts the risk of mother to child transmission of AIDS in half, and

27. This year Dance Marathon at UCLA raised… 384,507.80 Since its inception, the Dance Marathon at UCLA has raised over 1 million dollars.

28. So in just 26 hours… I danced with my friends, wore my bikini, busted out with my silliest dance moves, wore fishnet stockings and Uggs, got to see James Franco (!), made condom earrings, sang Gloria Gaynor’s I will survive louder than I have ever before, earned major bragging rights, and most importantly contributed to the year we broke a million.

29. I can’t thank you enough for your support Because without your help and encouragement I wouldn’t have been able to do any of it.

30. Do you know what you’ll be doing February 14, 2009?

31. I do!