who they are

Carolina For the Kids is a nonprofit organization run by students at UNC-Chapel Hill. The mission of the Carolina For The Kids Foundation is to provide major emotional, medical, and financial support for the patients and families served by UNC Children's Hospital.

In 1997, a student from Raleigh came to UNC-Chapel Hill with the dream of starting a dance marathon. Having witnessed the powerful impact of Pennsylvania State University’s 46-hour dance marathon on the dancers, spectators, patients and families involved with it, Michael Bucy was inspired to fill UNC-CH’s void for a large student-run fundraiser.

The first dance marathon at UNC-CH took place in February 1999, with about 75 dancers raising $40,000 for N.C. Children’s Hospital. It was a small start, but Bucy had a huge vision for the future.

Twenty years later, Bucy’s dream has grown into UNC Dance Marathon, which through the years has raised more than $5.1 million for N.C. Children’s Hospital and now involves about 2,000 students each year and dozens of community businesses.

With a mission “to unite the University, community and state in fostering emotional and financial support that improves the quality of life for the patients and families of N.C. Children’s Hospital,” UNC-DM has stayed true to Bucy’s original vision, even through enormous growth.

"If your child gets ill, the last thing you should have to worry about is the overwhelming financial burden,” Bucy said. “You should be able to focus your time and attention on caring for your child.”

how we're partners

What's better than kids helping kids? Not much. That's why we're honoring the efforts of CFTK by dedicating our upcoming end-of-season showcase to them. We'll be raising money at our show that will go directly back to this awesome organization. 

On top of that, our House Band will be performing at the UNC Dance Marathon! Dance Marathon is the primary fundraising effort of CFTK and Carolina students pledge to spend 24 hours dancing on their feet in solidarity with the families at UNC Children's. We hope to help kick off the marathon on an awesome note and make the first part fly by for those dedicated dancers. 

We're honored to be partners with this great organization!