Dance Blue--Origins

Blog Post #8

Topic: A brief history of how Dance Blue was started

   Dance Blue is a charity event put on at the University of Kentucky to raise money for cancer research.  To find information on how Dance Blue was originally created and what exactly it is I went to the most primary source I could find, the About section of the official Dance Blue website.
-http://danceblue.org/history/--

   The Dance Blue Dance Marathon can trace its roots all the way back to Jarret Mynear.  Jarret was a normal kid who just liked helping people.  He had great success in conducting public speeches and throwing philanthropy events including founding Jarret's Joy Cart.  The biggest obstacle in Jarret's life however was cancer.  By the time he was only six years old he had already been diagnosed with and battled 6 different cancers.  In 2002, during one of his last weeks he made a list of things he wanted done.  One thing he wanted done was to figure out a way to raise more money for the Pediatric Oncology Outpatient Clinic at Kentucky Children’s Hospital.  After his passing the fund, the Jarret Myear Fund raised money to help improve the physical center, however, it was noticed that the emotional needs of cancer patients and their families were neglected.  This led to the creation of the Golden Matrix Fund. Jennifer Myear, Jarret's mother, then went on to figure out how to get University of Kentucky Students involved and this led to the creation of Dance Blue, a 24-hour dance marathon where students stay awake and on their feet for 24 hours and make donations to the fund.  In 2014 Dance Blue alone raised over $1 million.

   Dance Blue is a constantly evolving event and this makes it a perfect thing to research.  Raising awareness for cancer research is always a good thing, and the Myears along with the University of Kentucky have found a fun way to do that so this would be a great topic to research.

--Stephen Ritchie