NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Rebecca Rossett never could have imagined what she witnesses today.
A senior forward for the Vanderbilt soccer team, Rossett remembers taking part in Vandy’s annual Dance Marathon as a freshman. She estimated only six student-athletes showed up to that event.
“We raised some money, but this year and last we’ve really stepped it up,” Rossett said. “We’ve already doubled how much we raised last year. Just hearing my teammates being so excited to go and talk about it and connecting with Maddy, our miracle child, has just been a really great experience.”
Rossett was named to the 2019 SEC Community Service Team for her efforts in organizing an effort to bring Vanderbilt soccer’s miracle child, Maddy, to a soccer game in the fall to be a part of the team. Maddy and her family were on the field during Vanderbilt’s warm ups against Texas A&M and they hung out with Rossett and the team pregame.
Vanderbilt’s Dance Marathon is spearheaded by Vanderbilt football student-athlete Andre Mintze and is an annual campus event that raises funds for Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Mintze created the Dancing Dores program to help get more student-athletes involved.
Now the Dance Marathon has ballooned into one of the more popular events on campus for the Commodores. Rossett has been involved with Dancing Dores since its infancy.
“I’ve always loved helping people, especially kids,” Rossett said. “When the opportunity for Dancing Dores came, my teammates said that it was perfect for me because I really love helping people and being able to connect with the kids and the families and everything has just been such a great experience.”
Rossett set up a donation form for the Vanderbilt soccer team with an end goal of $3,000. As of today, the Commodores have raised about $8,500 blowing their end goal out of the water.
The 2020 Dance Marathon is scheduled to take place Saturday at the David Williams Recreation Center. The largest student-run philanthropic organization on Vanderbilt’s campus will last more than 13 hours.
And because of the efforts from Commodores like Rossett, the best is yet to come.
“My biggest aspect of doing all this is just I can see the personal effect it has on the families and the treatments it can help,” Rossett said. “The big event is just such an amazing thing for the kids and just seeing the best time they have there is really important.
“I think it’s the most incredible thing that I’ve been a part of so far at Vanderbilt. That gives so much credit to Andre and all the work that he has put in. It’s only going to get bigger, too, which is really exciting.”
Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com. Follow him @MrChadBishop.
