by Erik Good
The Ellen Show gift of $3,300 will help the Aztec Dance Marathon get closer to its $200,000 goal, but if you're looking to contribute to the well-being of the patients at Rady Children's Hospital, visit aztecdancemarathon.org.
The Aztec Dance Marathon will start at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 23 in Montezuma Hall at the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union.
"Hi, I'm an audience coordinator for the Ellen Show," the voice on the line said. "Your roommate wrote to us about the work that you're doing for Rady Children's Hospital at San Diego State and I was just wondering if you could tell me more."
Monica Algya was floored. As a fourth-year student at San Diego State University, she had been a part of Aztec Dance Marathon since her freshman year. The organization hosts the annual event, where multiple teams compete to raise the most money for the Rady Children's Hospital. This year's event will be held Feb. 23-24.
Now, serving as the organization's director of recruitment, Algya was among 300 guests invited to attend the Jan. 25 live taping of the Ellen Show as part of the One Million Acts of Good campaign. Out of sheer excitement, Algya and the rest of her team created an Aztec Dance Marathon shirt as a gift for Ellen.
Created by Ellen DeGeneres and Cheerios, the campaign identified acts of good around the country. For the Jan. 25 show, which was DeGeneres' birthday, her team put out a nationwide call to invite those who were actively helping others to be a part of her show.
After arriving at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif., Algya quickly discovered that all of the guests invited were also chosen for their philanthropy and service work.
The audience was then led into the studio, where their energy levels were raised up by Ellen's DJ, tWitch. But there was little need for hype once the guest list for the show was revealed: former first lady Michelle Obama, Jimmy Kimmel, Jaime Foxx, Channing Tatum, Jennifer Aniston, Chance the Rapper and Sophia Vergara.
Just as the show was about to end, Ellen stood up before an oversized Cheerios box featuring a caricature of her face.
"If you have a box of Cheerios under your seat, I'm going to give you a special surprise gift," Ellen began. "You're all going to share this gift. It's the biggest gift I've ever given anybody ever. And I hope you continue to pay it forward and share all the good. Hold on to your Cheerios because all of you are splitting one million dollars."
The audience went wild, with each person discovering a Cheerios box under their seat. Ultimately, each person would receive $3,300.
"There was no 'spend it on this', there was no 'put it towards charity'. Just 'I hope you share it with others'. Just sitting in that room knowing that every single person was going to use that money for good, I think it's amazing," Algya said. "It speaks to the power of charity and philanthropy and the spirit that that cultivates."
Algya will be sharing her gift money from the Ellen Show with Aztec Dance Marathon through her team, The Young Life. With more than 80 teams registered and over 1,400 dancers participating over the course of 15 hours, the Aztec Dance Marathon raised more than $100,000 in back-to-back years for Rady Children's Hospital.
"For me, the Aztec Dance Marathon is the best thing I've done in all of college," Algya said. "If I look at what has built me the most community, given me purpose, given me the opportunity to stand for something bigger than myself...it's been the best thing I've chosen to get involved in."