On campus

Tech Organization Raises Money for Children’s Hospital

Tech is home to many fundraisers and philanthropies that raise money for local charities and organizations, and TTU Miracle is one of them. 

TTU Miracle is a student-run philanthropy at Tech that hosts a year-long fundraising effort where any student organization, individual student or local business can participate and raise money. All the money raised goes to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee. This year, the event will feature a virtual meet and greet with children from the hospital as well as an eight hour in-person fundraising event on April 17 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m at Sherlock Park.

Rachel Kurtsinger, senior Communications major and President of TTU Miracle, has been involved with the organization for over two years. She explained how Tech got involved in the philanthropy and how they are making an impact.

“We started in 2016 when Tech adopted TTU Miracle as their Homecoming fundraiser…we moved off of that over the past couple of years to engage more of campus and let it develop into its own event,” Kurtsinger said. “TTU Miracle is a part of a really large network, which is Miracle Network Dance Marathon. There are over 400 schools in the U.S. and Canada that participate in it, and over the past 25 to 30 years they have raised over $300 million.”

She went on to explain that it is important that everyone is able to participate in the fundraiser, so starting this year, students who are not affiliated with a particular organization can still participate in TTU Miracle. 

“We just started a whole new way for individuals to get involved…we created a non-affiliated team on our donor drive called Miracle Makers where individuals can sign up and participate in our events…it’s an easy way to make new friends and make a difference,” Kurtsinger said.

Cole Davis, sophomore Computer Science major and Vice President of Finance for TTU Miracle, is proud to represent the philanthropy and focuses on getting local businesses and off-campus organizations involved.

“TTU Miracle is a great cause and one that I can really stand by…I do a lot of outreaches in the community and any support is always welcome…It is really worthwhile for us to partner with local businesses because they can help us raise money, and we can help spread the word about their business on campus,” Davis said.

Since launching in 2016, TTU Miracle has raised over $150,000 and looks to add on to that number this year. For questions about how to get involved with TTU Miracle, contact miraclettu@gmail.com or ttumiraclefinance@gmail.com