Pre-school Dancers Raise $37,000

Michigan school dance-a-thon was in honor of family

On the day a group of Michigan pre-schoolers boogied their way into raising more than $37,000 for the PKD Foundation, the local family who inspired them lost a second child to polycystic kidney disease.
Each year, Trinity Lutheran Child Development Center in St. Joseph, Mich., chooses a charity to sponsor. At the forefront of the minds of students, staff and parents was the devastation PKD continued to cause in the lives of one particular family. 

 “PKD has stricken a family of our church whose children attend our preschool,” said Cyndi Ursprung, school administrator.  “We all have been very saddened by its impact on this family, and we wanted to do something to help.”

The students and their families collected flat-rate sponsorships in the form of checks and cash for a pre-school dance-a-thon.  The generosity of donors helped to raise $37,097 for PKD research.

The inspiration for the fundraiser was the family of pre-school parent and St. Joseph PKD Walk Coordinator Katie Hartfield, who lost a son to PKD.
Aug. 10, 2008, would have been the fifth birthday of Katie’s son Jack. Her husband and seven-year-old daughter also have PKD.  Their other son, Luke, attends the pre-school.

Adding to their heartache, the Hartfield’s unborn daughter, due around the time of the dance-a-thon, was expected to die shortly after birth.   

The success of the fundraiser – held May 12 and 13 – met a bittersweet end.  The Hartfields lost newborn Molly Grace on the same day many of the preschool students were participating in the dance-a-thon, bringing even more attention to the importance of finding a cure and treatment for the disease.

However, the willingness of the students and families to participate in the event and raise money to fight PKD provided an inspiration to all, and the students’ efforts will be felt and appreciated by many PKD families.

Posted July 15, 2008