Roses with really long stems to reach back to 1997 to thank Michael Bucy and all those who have come since to make the UNC Dance Marathon the biggest student fundraiser on the UNC campus.

Bucy, a student from Raleigh, had seen the success of a 46-hour marathon at Pennsylvania State University and wanted to bring a similar experience to Chapel Hill. The first dance marathon here, in 1999 with about 75 dancers, raised $40,000 for the N.C. Children’s Hospital.

Fourteen years later, Bucy’s dream has grown into the year-round UNC Dance Marathon, raising more than $3.3 million for the Children’s Hospital (a part of UNC Hospitals) and involving thousands of students and local businesses.

This year’s marathon held earlier this month had raised $430,181.68 as of Monday morning. Over the years the money has gone to such diverse needs as special car seats for children undergoing orthopedic surgeries, a human milk freezer for the newborn critical care unit and a six-night camp for adolescents with diabetes.

And this year the marathon program branched off campus. .

Students at McDougle Middle School held a mini-marathon fro 6 to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 1, the first middle school mini-marathon the campus organization has organized.

Abby Poeske, an eighth-grade student teacher at McDougle Middle School, served as the faculty advisor for 15 eighth graders who helped plan the event, which included performances from UNC student groups and a rave with DJ Kavon Javaherian, the outreach committees sub-chair.

You don’t have to dance to support the cause (of course, you can dance if you want to.). Help add to the total and give to the Children’s Hospital at uncmarathon.org/contact

Roses from reader David Kaminsky to Rob Smith and the Orange County Adult Soccer League (OCASL).

Saturday, OCASL held a benefit tournament that raised over $1,400 for two charities: Help to Impact Lives and the Community Empowerment Fund. Included in that amount was $375 raised by auctioning a jersey signed by Pele and donated by Eurosport.

Help to Impact Lives works with less fortunate children in Jamaican. Its mission is “to provide the necessary tangible and intangible support to transform and improve impoverished youths through education and soccer; and to help in fostering their hopes and realizing their dreams.” You can learn more at htil.org/

The Community Empowerment Fund offers savings opportunities, financial education, and assertive support to individuals who are seeking employment, housing, and financial freedom. The opportunities for employment and greater housing that CEF advances motivate participants to build personal assets, gain higher income, engage in a healthy community, and sustain transitions out of poverty. You can learn more at communityempowermentfund.org/

Roses from reader Betsy Polk Joseph to the organizers of Mitzvah Day, an annual day of service in which Jewish people and others perform volunteer activities throughout the community while their Christian neighbors celebrate Christmas.

“Roses (long overdue at that) to Susan Springer and Ann Marie Schneider for their vibrant, organized, tireless, thoughtful leadership of Mitzvah Day,” Joseph writes.

“This seven-year Triangle Christmas Day tradition has mobilized hundreds of volunteers of all ages who clean, pack, build, sing, sweep, cook, bake ... and do whatever’s needed to fill the gaps so that social and public service employees can celebrate Christmas at home with their families.”