Trojan Dance Marathon provides lessons in giving

With the Tears for Fears song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” blaring out of the sound system, 9-year-old Elliot Fletcher charged into Saturday’s Trojan Dance Marathon fundraising event.

The outgoing second grader was greeted, pep-rally style, by a “spirit tunnel” of cheering Trojans on each side of him, including USC President Carol Folt.

The recipient of a heart transplant seven years ago, Elliot Fletcher served as proof of the lifesaving work of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. For nearly a century, USC has partnered with CHLA, whose physicians are faculty at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

By the end of the inspiring six-hour event, themed “Treasured Little Things” and held inside Tommy’s Place on the USC University Park Campus, USC students had raised $33,299 for the hospital. This is the third consecutive year for the event since it was paused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As you can see, Elliot is thriving,” his mother, Raquel Fletcher, told the crowd of USC students, CHLA patients and their families. “He still goes to his transplant clinic appointments every three months, but his heart is in excellent condition. He is amazing.”

The Fletchers were among five CHLA families on hand to share their inspirational stories at the event, which also included live musical performances, a limbo competition, a hula hoop contest and a lip-sync battle.

“Everything that you’re doing to bring in donations for this nonprofit hospital is a big deal,” Raquel Fletcher said. “It’s helping the future of children, to make sure they have the best care possible.”

Another grateful CHLA parent, Tyler Kelly, shared that his 8-year-old son, Pierce, was diagnosed with leukemia at 22 months old. The boy received a lifesaving bone marrow transplant at CHLA and now only returns to the hospital once a year for a checkup.

“It’s an amazing hospital that does not refuse service to anyone,” Tyler Kelly said from the event stage. “Anyone can walk through those doors and get world-class service. Thank you for what you’ve done.”

The money raised helps to provide care and to make hospital stays more welcoming for children by providing them with services such as art and music therapy.

Putting out the call for donations

In between activities, emcees challenged marathon attendees to download an app created for the event and reach out — on the spot — to their networks of friends and family to ask them to donate to CHLA. Donations made through the app were immediately added to the day’s fundraising tally.

Folt was among those who accepted the challenge, announcing that she was personally donating $2,025 in honor of the class of 2025.

“I love this event — it is fantastic,” Folt said. “I’m getting inspired.” 

Students committed to the cause

Co-emcee Giulio Morini Bianzino, a junior at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, explained to his fellow Trojans why “Treasured Little Things” was the theme of the event.

“It reminds us to continue to fight for each individual medical breakthrough, each child’s recovery and the little wins in a child’s medical journey,” Bianzino said. “We want to focus on all the little things that make each and every day a little bit brighter.”

For Executive Director of Trojan Dance Marathon Ruby Perlman, a senior in USC’s progressive degree program concurrently working on bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the USC Marshall School of Business, the cause is deeply personal.

Perlman received care at CHLA when she was younger and struggling with severe asthma and allergic reactions to medication. “It’s been such a great way for me to give back to that community,” Perlman said in an interview during the event.

A nationwide effort

USC’s Trojan Dance Marathon isn’t just an event — it’s a student organization on campus with a 15-member executive board and 130 members that raises funds and awareness for CHLA all year long.

Dance marathon groups on campuses nationwide have had a rich history with children’s hospitals since the 1990s and are part of the Children’s Miracle Network that includes CHLA, explained Scotty Pruitt, senior associate director of corporate partnerships for the hospital.

“We take the sickest kids, and because we are a safety-net hospital, over 70% of our patients are underinsured,” Pruitt said. “We just make it a lot easier for people to get care and allow all these kids to live a normal and successful life.”

Senior Constantine Tripodes of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, the other co-emcee on Saturday, said offstage that he was excited to make such a palpable difference in the local community.

“You can literally feel the difference, see the difference and talk to the families,” Tripodes said. “And it’s for a hospital right in our backyard.”