Dance Marathon week begins

Let the boogie begin a little bit early. \nSunday kicked off IU Dance Marathon week with Fiji and Phi Mu holding a chicken wing eating contest in Dunn Meadow. IUDM raises money every year for the Riley Hospital for Children.\nSenior Denise Feldman, director of public relations for IUDM, said she hopes this week will bring in more money than it did last year. Today and tomorrow representatives from IUDM will be on campus and in classes to collect money for IUDM, she said. \n"We had a week dedicated to IUDM last year, but it was closer to the weekend of dance marathon," Feldman said. "It was also a different week than the date auction. This year the week will be a lot bigger."\nThe annual date auction will be held Thursday at Kilroy's Sports Bar. The event will be emceed by Brad Fiorenza from MTV's "Real World San Diego." Last year the date auction raised $3,000. \nJunior Joshua Jenkins, director of special events for IUDM, hopes Brad's appearance at the event will bring more people out and help raise more money.\n"Pretty much we felt a host with his street credibility would bring in a lot of college kids," Jenkins said. "A lot of college students seem to be big fans of the 'Real World' and we thought having him would bring in a lot of people. I also met Brad this summer and he was a really cool guy."\nTwenty dates with different women and men will be auctioned off. There will be date packages to a variety of local restaurants and bars that will be offered and provided to the highest bidder and their auctioned dates. \nThere also was a dodge ball tournament scheduled for Friday, but it has now been canceled. Senior Matt Sowder, director of Riley development for IUDM, said in an e-mail the event was canceled because of lack of help from Recreational Sports and Residence Halls Association. \nFall Road Rules is another of the activities IUDM will be hosting this weekend. Saturday and Sunday representatives from IUDM will be collecting cans at various Wal-Marts and Krogers around the state, to collect money for Riley, Feldman said.\n"We are shooting to raise $20,000 for the whole week. For the total dance marathon we want to raise $500,000," Feldman said. "Last year we raised $403,000, so we hope we can exceed that number this year."\nAll money raised during the week will benefit the Riley Hospital for Children, which was established in 1924. The hospital serves only children and each year treats over 150,000 patients. \nIUDM was created after Ryan White passed away in 1990. White was a child from Kokomo who contracted AIDS through contaminated blood transfusions he received because he was a hemophiliac. \nFor more information about IUDM visit their Web site www.iudm.org or the Riley Hospital for Children Web site www.rileyhospital.org. Jenkins said he believes it is important for people to get involved and donate money because the money raised benefits a great cause.\n"It's extremely important because we support the Ryan White Infectious Disease Center at Riley Hospital," Jenkins said. "IUDM has raised $3 million since we started in 1991. The Ryan White Infectious Disease Wing was built with IUDM money. Now the money that we make at IUDM keeps the wing operational, so it's very important for people to donate money."\n-- Contact staff writer Maggie Bozich at mbozich@indiana.edu.