A student-led charity organization at Stephen F. Austin State University has raised more than $334,000 since 2011 for the fight against cancer.
Dancers Against Cancer provides monetary assistance to cancer patients and contributes funds toward cancer research by collecting donations at dance recitals and weekly fundraisers all while raising cancer awareness.
“Being part of DAC has been such a meaningful experience to me,” DAC member Emily Sims said. “It’s given me a chance to express my love for dance while supporting a cause that truly matters. The friendships I’ve made within DAC feel like a second family, and hearing the stories of our recipients has changed the way I see the world.”
Each fall and spring semester, DAC holds two benefit dance recitals. Using their passion for dance, the nearly 100 members raise money to further cancer research in hopes of finding a cure. As a nonprofit organization, the group donates all its proceeds to cancer-related organizations and to recipients currently battling cancer, who are voted on by the DAC team members.
Members usually nominate family members or someone they know, and the money raised throughout the semester is split between the individual with cancer and the East Texas Alliance of Hope, a group in Lufkin dedicated to assisting families who are going through a cancer diagnosis.
“DAC means so much to me because I’ve personally seen the impact it has on people’s lives,” said Sydney Truman ’26, former president and four-year member of DAC. She also was crowned ĢƵ’s 2025 Homecoming queen. “My grandma was a recipient, and witnessing the financial support and relief it provided our family opened my eyes to what many families go through during times like that.”
Last fall semester, the organization’s cancer patient recipient was Kai Marley De Leon, a 5-year-old boy battling a rare and aggressive tumor of the central nervous system. And this past spring semester, Danny Knowles, husband and father of three from Fort Worth, received monetary support to continue his fight with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
“I have had many family members who have battled cancer, and I love that we get to create an amazing dance show to benefit the people who mean the most to us but are going through hard times as well,” DAC member Avery Whitaker said.
When they are not practicing, members typically hold weekly profit-share fundraisers with local businesses like Raising Cane’s or Dillas Quesadillas and sell shirts at ĢƵ’s Baker Pattillo Student Center each weekday. But most of the money raised comes from the two semester-ending performances each fall and spring.
“A dance recital or dance spring show is kind of the best way to describe it,” said Ellee Marsh, the organization’s fundraising coordinator. “We have one in the morning and one in the afternoon.”
Some dances are performed solo or with a group, with the shows featuring numbers by senior members and the organization’s leaders. “And then, about halfway through, we do an auction, and that’s how we raise a good chunk of our money,” Marsh said.
Items donated from the community are combined in baskets by DAC members to be auctioned off to the audience.
DAC’s fundraising efforts have not gone unnoticed. At the end of the spring semester, the organization was awarded the Outstanding Organization of the Year at the 2026 Lumberjack Achievement Awards, an annual ĢƵ awards ceremony recognizing organizations and individuals in both student engagement and academics. The organization also won the same award in 2023 and 2024.
“It was such a surreal and rewarding feeling,” Truman said remembering hearing DAC’s name called. “Seeing DAC become a home away from home for so many students has been incredibly rewarding. As a completely studentled organization with a 10-member leadership team, there is so much work that goes into every semester. Being able to give back to our community and support individuals actively fighting against cancer makes all the hard work worth it.” ★
