On campus

Children’s Miracle Network

Tech has over 200 different service organizations. Each of these organizations help give back to the community and to others in need. One of the more popular service organizations is the Children’s Miracle Network. 

“The Children’s Miracle Network or ‘Miracle’ for short, is a nonprofit organization that raises funds and awareness for 170 children’s hospitals, providing 32 million treatments to kids all across the U.S.and Canada,” said Rachel Kurtsinger,  President of Miracle’s executive team. 

“TTU Miracle is a small part of a section of CMNH called Dance Marathon. DM is a movement across over 400 colleges, high schools, middle schools, and even elementary schools that gets students involved all year long to raise awareness and funds for their local CMN hospitals. Dance Marathon was started in 1991 at Indiana University and has now grown into what it is today. Millions of students have raised over $44 Million since then,” Kurtsinger said. 

 “I personally got involved with TTU Miracle after Tech’s 2018 Homecoming Dance Marathon. I instantly fell in love with the purpose, the excitement, and our amazing patients we get to do all of this for. Now, as a second-term president of our Miracle Executive Team, I still fall more in love with this cause every day and it’s a mission I hope to be a part of no matter where life takes me. We are always working our hardest to make an impact “FTK” (aka For the Kids) and I’m so proud of every bit of change we’re creating,” Kurtsinger said. 

“I wanted to be involved in Miracle because I saw it as an amazing opportunity to be able to make a change in children’s lives as a college student. We get to work with some amazing people on and off campus as well, so I saw that as an awesome way to connect more with the campus and with the hospital itself,” said Lizzy Orcutt, a member of Miracle. 

Orcutt describes what TTU Miracle means to her.

“To me, Miracle means a fight for change. Which is a phrase used in a lot of our social media, but the money we raise for these kids really does go to new technology and science for them to get the help that they need the more I got into it, the more I realized that I would do anything to make these kids feel special because they deserve it. I also view it as a learning experience because it has not only taught me a lot about myself but about life and the importance of teamwork.”

“Well to get involved here at TTU and be a part of ‘this generation fighting for the next’ you can do several different things. The most universal approach is to get signed up with us on our fundraising platform called ‘Donor Drive’ as a participant or with a team of friends to be involved in all of our events,” Kurtsinger said. “You  get to interact with Miracle Ambassadors (aka patients from our hospital Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt), and make a difference in kids’ lives here in TN.”

“You can also support in smaller ways like donating to TTU Miracle, participating in virtual & in-person events we put on, or even just helping us spread the word about our mission,” Kurtsinger said. 

TTU’s Miracle is a student-run, campus-wide philanthropy that is fighting for a cure, dancing for change, and making miracles happen. If you are interested or want to find out more about TTU Miracle you can find them on Instagram at @ttumiracle.