By Morgan Eads

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Those interested in dancing in UK’s annual DanceBlue marathon that have been unable to raise the required funds may be able to join the event after all.

Since DanceBlue started, there has been a little used option of payment that could open doors for some dancers.

Team members who were not able to fulfill their fundraising requirements can pledge a monetary amount on DanceBlue’s website. (danceblue.org)

Family science senior and fundraising chair for DanceBlue Tressa Neal explained the pledge system for the event.

“A pledge is essentially an IOU, you pledge a donation and you pledge you will pay for it at a later date,” Neal said.

Not many utilize this method, Neal said.

“Not a lot of people use it because they don’t fully understand it,” Neal said.

ISC junior Haylei Benton would not have been able to dance in the upcoming marathon if it weren’t for the pledge option.

“I wasn’t able to get the donations that I needed, but now I know I can dance and pay it back,” Benton said.

Elementary education sophomore Katie Ballew said she would not have considered doing DanceBlue if it were not for the pledge option.

“I actually wasn’t planning on dancing until I found out about pledging,” Ballew said. “I think pledging will make it easier to raise the money.”

The fact you can choose to pay monthly, quarterly or yearly will help students hoping to dance, Ballew said.

“I think with college kids it is hard to ask for large sums of money,” Ballew said. “We get money through our jobs slowly and blow it quickly.”

Benton also said that spreading out the payments will ease the burden on the pocketbooks of university students.

“It’s a good way for people who can’t afford it right now to be able to dance in a way that is better for their budget,” Benton said.

The real advantage will go to the beneficiary, DanceBlue KCH Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Clinic, Benton said.

“It makes it so people can donate as much as they want and be able to pay it back,” Benton said. “It doesn’t matter how much, even if it’s five dollars, every little bit helps.”

Some teams have gotten corporate sponsors this year and the pledge system will help those sponsors bring in more money for the cause, Neal said.

“The companies often have to wait to donate the money because of technicalities,” Neal said. “This wouldn’t be possible without the pledge option.”

Though some may think issues could arise with people not fulfilling their pledges, Benton doesn’t think it will be an issue.

“People know what they are doing when they pledge,” Benton said. “It explains it really well and you choose how much you want to pay at a time. It shouldn’t be any problem.”

Neal said she hopes it will not be an issue.

“We definitely want to stress that it is something you are expected to fulfill,” she said. “It is a financial contract.”

The pledge system could be very advantageous to the clinic and to those hoping to dance, Neal said.

“We think it’s an awesome system that can really benefit teams,” Neal said. “But this is for the kids so we want everything to be fulfilled and for it to go straight to the clinic.”