LINCOLN PARK — For the second year in a row, the students behind DePaul University's Dance Marathon fundraiser set a record for the amount of money raised.
The 24-hour-straight DemonTHON raised $150,313.37 over the weekend for the Anne & Robert Lurie Children's Hospital.
Connor Lillis, one of the organizers of the event, had the number memorized to the cent.
"When I saw the total, I just broke down," Lillis said. "I started crying before I saw the total."
The DemonTHON's total was the most ever raised during the second year of a Dance Marathon.
Last year in its first year, the DePaul organization raised $103,000, the highest total in an organization's first year.
"People were talking about how much DemonTHON has grown just in the last year and how we have created something amazing on campus," Lillis said. "We broke the second year fundraising record, which is crazy."
The fund-raising totals surpassed the goal, which was to raise 20 percent more than the first year.
At the event, 244 students checked in Friday night and by 5 p.m. Saturday, 224 were still "dancing."
For the students who stayed up all night, the big moment was the unveiling of the final total that had been raised, which was kept a secret during the year-long fundraising effort.
Students were required to raise a minimum of $250 each to participate in the event, which was held inside McGrath Arena.
More than 150 schools across the country hold the annual event in one form or another, which was started in 1973 at Penn State University.
For the students who stayed up all night, the big moment was the unveiling of the final total that had been raised, which was kept a secret during the year-long fundraising effort.
