Ashley Agle is a senior at Ohio University who is also the Co-director of Bobcathon 2020, the annual dance marathon that raises money towards the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio, a foundation that provides a place families can call home while their child is in and out of the hospital. Being involved in Bobcathon helped Agle choose her major of Child and Family Studies as well as securing an internship at the Ronald McDonald House. Her work at the February 15th event helped raise more than $117,000 for RMHC.
1. Can you explain what Bobcathon is? Bobcathon is Ohio University's 12 hour long Dance Marathon where we're trying to raise funds and raise awareness for the Ronald McDonald House of Central Ohio. So (Feb. 15) is a 12 hour long Dance Marathon where families come and speak and portray their stories and we try to stand on our feet for 12 hours so we can try to get some of the feeling that families have when their child is going through a sickness. So the minimum requirement to raise is $100 because you are fundraising for a family to stay for one night. So one night's free stay is $100.
2. Did you have any leadership roles before this year? I danced my freshman year and I loved it. And then my sophomore year, I was a morale captain, so I was one of the dancers on the stage. And then last year, I was director of morale, so I was in charge of 24 peers, and facilitated weekly meetings with them. And then this year, I'm a co-director. So my friend Danny and I are planning all 12 hours, every minute breakdown of that. We are trying to execute and plan everything we want, so we reached out to entertainers and food we wanted, all the speakers from the house and also Dr. Pina, Dr. Jenny Hall Jones, stuff like that.
3. What initiatives has Bobcathon taken to ensure successful fundraising as years go on? Something we've really tried to push this year is more direct outreach, because something that we've done in the past is just posting on your Facebook, and that doesn't work. So at our meeting on Monday, our president Maggie said, “Everyone get out your phones and text two people,” and within 10 minutes, we raised $250. We also really tried this year to make it more about the families instead of just the dance marathon. So when we tabled, we had little players cards of children that were staying at the house that explain their story. So our target was more about trying to bring back home how this also helps the Athens community and also people all over the world. So making it more about the families. 4. If you had to come up with a five year goal for Bobcathon, what would it be? My goal that I always want to have is, if you're in an organization on campus then you are involved in the dance marathon. Whatever your affiliation is you would do it with your organization. I feel like that is something that I would want, because it's just so cool to see everyone's little groups come together and make a whole. So I just feel like more campus involvement would be my goal for five years because there's still people that don't even know what Bobcathon is. So just raising awareness and then getting more dancers to actually show up to the event because we have a lot of people sign up, but that doesn't mean that they actually show up on day of. So for year five, it would be to have a better sign up ratio to who actually shows up.
4. If you had to explain to someone why Bobcathon is important, what would you say to them? I would say that Bobcathon is important because it is students of all ages coming together for something that's greater than themselves. I just feel like Bobcathon is an experience like no other. But it's just students dedicating so much time and working so hard to try to make families lives easier. And being at the house and seeing the struggle that families go through, it's so beneficial. If we can take some of that weight off of them and give families a free night stay and make their life more comfortable when they're going through such a hard time, that's why it's so important. It's all about the families and that's why we do it. So that's why it's so cool.
5. Does Bobcathon have a set fundraising goal for this year? So this year, we've made it $116,000 for our sixth year as Bobcathon. But it hasn't been as public as it's been in the past. So we hope to do that. But anything is a huge difference because $100 is paying for one family, so in the grand scheme of things, that's how many families we're helping stay. We've made it less about a number this year because compared to other dance marathons this is the year you kind of plateau. So we tried to make it more about the families and the impact instead of an actual number. Because in the past, It normally takes other schools a lot longer to hit $100,000. And we hit it really, really early. So that's why it's figuring out how to make goals that are striving for something higher, but also keeping it realistic. It's really hard. It's a hard balance, but it's super cool.
* This was a writing assignment I submitted in my Multiplatform Reporting and Writing class in the Spring of 2020. I was tasked with interviewing a leader of an organization or person of influence in my college town. After recording a Q&A, I had to accurately edit and submit their responses in AP formatting.
Comments