Angel Program
In 2018, Maggie Kudirka began the Dancers Care Angels program. She selected three young dancers to pass buckets to collect funds for the Dancers Care Foundation at a Starbound National Talent Competition regional awards ceremony. These first Angels collected donations of over $700 in a few minutes. Angels were then chosen at additional cities for the rest of that year and at Starbound finals. They raised over $10,000!
After the last finals, Sandy Coyte and Maggie had to decide what to do with this money. It could have been added to the donation going to cancer research at Weill Cornell Medicine. However, Maggie’s experience as a young dancer going through cancer treatments presented another need – a financial one that all cancer patients face. Between co-pays and deductibles, health insurance didn’t cover the cost of all necessary cancer treatments. Since these funds were raised at Starbound, Sandy and Maggie decided the best use was to help serious young dancers undergoing cancer treatments. So four dancers undergoing cancer treatments were chosen and received donations of $2,500 each.
These four dancers were the first Dancers Care Foundation Phoenixes. Phoenixes are mythical creatures that are reborn which is what happens to someone going through cancer treatments. Dancers Care wants to support and give strength to young dancers going through active cancer treatment. We hope to donate the money raised by the Angels at Starbound regionals and finals to a few serious young dancers who are in active cancer treatment or have recently completed treatment. If you know a young dancer who fits this description, please nominate him/her or encourage him/her to apply for the DCF Phoenix program.
Click to download DCF Phoenix Application. Download
