Around campus, people have been dyeing their hair, doing TikTok dances, and pieing professors’ faces; all to raise money for a Trinity organization called TigerThon. So you may be wondering, what is TigerThon?

Logan Muzyka, the executive director of TigerThon, told us all about it. “TigerThon partners with the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio and gets support from the Children’s Miracle Network. We raise funds and support for sick and injured children in San Antonio. We also educate Trinity about pediatric health issues and help get support for the cause,” said Muzyka.

The challenges around campus were actually part of a 20 Days of Dares initiative to raise money, and the TigerThon members were among the most enthusiastic.

One member in particular, the co-assistant director Jenny Rudnicki, is doing some interesting dares. “I’m getting a tattoo. The logo for the San Antonio Children’s Hospital has a balloon, so I’m getting a balloon with a string that says ‘for the kids’. I’m [also] going to face my biggest fear, spiders, by holding a tarantula,” said Rudnicki.

These 20 Days of Dares culminated in TigerThon’s grand event, which was last Saturday.

“First off, I thought it went super well, all credits to the event operations team. It was a mostly virtual event where we had kids from the hospital either hop on Zoom call or pre-record tutorials on how to do different activities, like slime, mud cakes, etc. We also had an in-person event where we did mask tie-dying,” said Muzyka.

Those who attended the event didn’t just get to hang out with the kids. They got to hear all the good their donations do.

“Throughout the event, kids and their parents shared their stories. For example, Destiny is a college age girl who was dropped on her head in a cheerleading accident during middle school and had to relearn how to do a lot of things,” said Muzyka.

However, as much fun as the event itself was, it’s the grand finale that made their efforts so special.

“At the very end, we do a final reveal of fundreading, and this year we got $25,507.03, which is a new record,” said Muzyka.

How was an organization that is less than five years old able to raise so much money? Well, Caroline Verela, the chair of event operations for TigerThon, told us that Miracle Makers are essential to the success of TigerThon.

“The vast majority of our donations come from Miracle Makers,” said Varela.

These Miracle Makers are people who are members of TigerThon but aren’t committee members. They are allowed to do two things. The first is that they are able to donate to the cause.

“When you register as a Miracle Makers, you get your own fundraising page, and you can pay anytime. You can just send the link out to anyone,” said Muzyka.

The second thing Miracle Makers are able to do is participate.

“People can register as a Miracle Maker, which means you get to come to our events,” said Muzyka.

In other words, Miracle Makers are able to participate, but they won’t be a part of planning the event. Prospect Miracle Makers, or anyone who’s interested, can learn more about participation in TigerThon via their social media.

“The best way [to get information] is to follow us on Instagram,” said Varela. Their Instagram handle is @tu_tigerthon.

There are other ways though. “We [TigerThon] have a newsletter system. Anybody who’s signed up will get emails with updates of things like events, new partnerships, fundraising milestones,” said Rudnicki.

There is a lot that goes into defining TigerThon, like the way it’s run, its mission, etc. However, the essence of TigerThon can be defined quite easily.

“TigerThon is a way to give back and make their [the kids] day a little bit better,” said Varela.

If TigerThon sounds interesting and you want to be a part of the committee, you can sign up to be involved for next semester’s events.

“TigerThon is starting up applications for April 4 for anyone wanting to join next year,” said Rudnicki.