Shen. Valley Mini-THON raises nearly $7,000 to fight childhood cancer
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SENTINEL PHOTO - Students reveal the grand total raised by SV's Mini-THON on March 23, 2019.
By Kaylee Lindenmuth
SHENANDOAH – For four hours Saturday evening, 92 Shenandoah Valley students came to school to participate in SV’s first Mini-THON.
The event was a celebration of a year-long fundraising effort, and featured a wide variety of games, refreshments, and recreational tournaments. However, there was one catch: students could not sit for the duration of the event, just like Penn State’s 48 hour THON event.
The event ran from 6pm to 10pm, when, at the end, students revealed the grand total of $6,796.60, which will benefit the Four Diamonds organization, which supports efforts to “conquer childhood cancer” at Penn State Children’s Hospital.
“Tonight’s kind of a celebration for all of the fundraising we’ve done,” said Abby Conroy, event organizer.
Conroy, a junior, said the event’s inspiration came from attending a conference in August. Since then, the group has organized a variety of fundraisers, including a Gold-Out football game, a series of dine-outs, and more.
“Something good is coming out of our school, once again, bringing people around, and that’s one of the most important things for me,” said Conroy.
“I think it really brought our school together,” said Katilyn Hepler, a senior and event organizer.
“I think it also brought out community together, with the dine-outs and other fundraisers,” added Emily Demalis, a senior and event organizer.
“For me, it’s my senior year. I haven’t really done anything big, so I was like ‘Hey, before the end, I want to do something to leave my mark here, before I go off to college. I want to do something that helps other people and then have it keep going on next year, when I’m in college,'” said Gabe Hepler, a senior and event organizer.
The event featured a wide variety of activities for students in attendance, from dodgeball and basketball tournaments to Super Mario, from board games to cornhole, students kept busy.
The event was advised by SV teachers Kevin Keating and Anthony Pytko.
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