By Baylee Knebel
For 6 hours Delta High School students were tasked with the job of not sitting down from 6 p.m. to midnight. Students play games, dance, jump around and raise money for the children of Riley Hospital.
Riley Dance Marathon was founded 34 years ago in Indianapolis with the goal of providing hope for the children of Riley Hospital. Riley Dance Marathon has been a part of Delta High School’s history for nearly 10 years.
Each year Delta’s Riley Dance Marathon continues to grow in attendance and amount raised. Last year, the event raised just under $22,000 for the kids at Riley. The year before that, just under $23,000. This year Delta has raised a record-breaking amount of money for Riley kids: $26,223.24.
Many of Delta’s own students have been patients at Riley for various reasons, which is why the Riley Dance Marathon is such an important event to many students.
Sophomore Jacob Williams has had many encounters at Riley for his Crohn’s disease.
“I go a couple times a month to check up on it,” Williams said.
Throughout all of the students who have been patients, there is one common denominator: the amazing staff.
Sophomore Macy Weddle was diagnosed with scoliosis when she was 10 and had to wear a brace for three years.
“The scoliosis specialist in that unit was also my doctor and he had scoliosis,” she said. Since her doctor also had scoliosis she felt that she wasn’t alone in the process.
Although there are many good memories of Riley, not all are happy.
Belle Brown is a current senior at Delta High School who has been a Riley patient since she was 11.
“I was one patient that was able to leave my floor… and I got to walk around a couple times and I saw other kids and I saw how sad it was to see what they were going through and how they were living,” Belle Brown said.
Belle lives with Kawasaki disease and wants everyone to understand the struggle of being a patient.
“It is a challenge every day because you are so different than the rest of your friends, but I have a strong faith and I don’t really tend to keep my disease from restricting me from much,” Brown said.
Ruth Sherck is a Sophomore at Delta High School, and her older brother Malachi has been a Riley patient since he was born.
“There have been a lot of cool things I’ve seen happen at Riley and a lot of hard things I’ve seen happen at Riley,” Sherck said.
Ruth’s brother Malachi, a special needs student at Delta, passed away in December 2023. Ruth has been in and out of Riley supporting him throughout his whole journey.
“I want people to know and understand that their money is going somewhere and it’s going to a really good cause,” Sherck said.
This year RDM raised over $26,000 dollars this was a record breaking year. The kids can’t wait. They hope to go above and beyond in the next year.
