South High Marathon Dance weekend 35 years of great kids and dancing

The marathon dance is this weekend. For 35 years the school has sponsored this dance.  These kids work hard most of the year for this.  They raise a terrific amount of money.  I've sponsored a couple of kids, bought the bracelet, dropped money in the bin at the grocery store every time I've been there recently.  I know a couple of the recipients this year.  One is a father to a co-worker and he was a maintenance person at the school for years.  One is a young woman whose family camps with us, she graduated last year and needs a kidney transplant.  There are many other deserving people on the list this year as there has been every year. They started streaming is live last year so everyone can watch, it's a great time, I sit and cry some of the times.  I'm proud to say I graduated from this school.  This is from the facebook page that the SHMD has:

Founded	1977
About	The students of South Glens Falls High School will host the 35th Annual South High Marathon Dance in the South Glens Falls High School Gym on March 2-3 , 2012.

General Information

The South High Marathon Dance is a charitable event held every March in the small town of South Glens Falls, New York. Students at South Glens Falls High School, grades 9-12, gather to raise money and dance for an amazing 28 hours straight, all in the name of local people and charities who need help. The dance began in 1978, with about 50 dancers raising $1500 to donate to the local Emergency Squad, and has grown to include more than 600 dancers and in 2009 raised more than $260,000 . In the 32 years the dance has been held, the students, and community, have raised over $2.08 Million Dollars. The dance has donated money to individuals who need handicapped-accessible vans, organ transplants, and motorized wheelchairs. We have helped send terminally ill community members on vacations with their families, helped pay medical expenses, bought gifts for needy children at Christmas and helped purchase major medical equipment for a local hospital. Along with these individuals in need of our help, we have also donated money to organizations like Caritas, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, numerous scholarship funds, and local groups like the community center and fire departments. The dance is organized primarily by the students of South Glens Falls High School. A committee is formed every year to decide who the recipients will be that year. The student committee also helps decide what costume parties will take place at the dance...a time-honored tradition in which the dancers form groups and must prepare costumes that match a certain theme. As the dance has grown, the community has become increasingly involved, often leaving not a single seat unoccupied in the bleachers. The community that comes out to support the dance is highly entertained not only by the dancers, but also by the multitude of opportunities to make donations at the dance. The school is opened up to vendors selling snacks, raffle tickets, 50/50 tickets, SHMD apparel. A hair cutting booth is set up and our live and silent auctions are huge attractions. The culmination of the dance occurs Saturday night, after our 28 hours is up. The Grand Finale includes awards given to students who raise the most money, the awarding of raffle prizes, the live auction, and the greatly anticipated announcement of the total amount raised, followed by a Strut Your Stuff performance by the dancers. The energy, surprisingly, is electric, even after 28 hours of dancing. Thank you for supporting the SHMD and the SHMD website. We hope you'll find the dance to be as exciting and thrilling as we all do, though there is no feeling like actually being thereSee More

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