Lower Moreland Holds Mini-THON Workshop for Local Schools

Lower Moreland has been one of the pioneers in raising money for cancer. Over the last five years, LMHS has helped raise over $160,000 at Mini-THON, the smaller version of the popular fundraiser held at Penn State University every year to help fight pediatric cancer.

High schools such as Springfield have been organizing these types of events for the last decade, but now the students at LM who have been so successful running the event got the chance to show other local schools how it’s done.

Last week representatives from Abington, Phoenixville, Upper Merion, Agnes Irwin, Springside, Springfield, Lehighton, Liberty High School and Penn Charter were on hand at Lower Moreland High School to listen to teachers, students and former students explain how to run an all-day fundraiser.

“Ideally we would love to have all of those school start and do THON, said Seth Baron, a teacher who has helped run the event since it started at Lower Moreland. “Even our THON, it took us three to four years to start it.”

[]

• |

Starting a Mini-THON takes months of planning and countless hours of dedication from many people. The 12-hour event requires getting a venue, providing meals, games and entertainment, finding a way to promote the event an much more. And that's just the preplanning.

Once the event begins, teachers and students are dependent on each other to keep everything organized and everyone in the same place. The event doesn’t work unless everyone is pulling in the same direction for the same common cause. These are the values that were conveyed to the other schools in attendance by LM students.

“The event, you aren't selling anything, it sells itself,” Baron said. “The first year or two we were promoting all the activities. Besides the whole face of charity, the school spirit that comes out of this is incredible. That's another great by-product.”

The Four Diamonds Fund – the Penn State program dedicated to providing support for patients and families facing the battle against pediatric cancer – was also present at Lower Moreland’s workshop as assistant director Linda Barry was there to lend her advice.

Barry has seen high schools, middle schools and even some elementary schools step up and try to run a Mini-THON to raise money.

“Mini-THON’s are the second largest donor to our organization,” Barry said. “There’s been 82 schools across the country that have raised over $6 million. Springfield and Lower Moreland are one of these schools who do a fantastic job. We expect to have over 100 schools participating in their own Mini-THON’s.”

The idea for the workshop started after recently appointed junior THON head Danny Chediak attended the Hugh O'Brien Youth (HOBY) Leadership Conference at Temple University.

“At HOBY, tactics for personal, group, and community leadership were taught, and as part of the community leadership session, THON was a big hit,” Chediak said. “Having seen so many students interested in THON, I wanted to give back to the community by helping THON more by means of expanding it to other schools to both allow them to enjoy the experience, as well as put more money towards the Four Diamonds Fund.”

Students at Lower Moreland are “season-veterans” when it comes to putting on Mini-THON’s, and now they are lending their expertise to other area schools.

Jessie Brecker, a former LM student currently at the University of Maryland, was an instrumental leader in getting Mini-THON started in Lower Moreland and came back to speak at last week’s meeting. She was the first student to take the reigns over this project and helped make the event what it is today.

“This has been in the works for years,” Brecker said. “It’s a hard project to tackle. I volunteered and as you can see it’s getting bigger and bigger. It’s like my baby.”

Her ‘baby’ has turned into a well-oiled machine at LM where current students have taken over and know exactly what to do, how to promote the event and make it fun for everyone while they are raising money for a great cause.

Brecker, along with LM THON heads Jake Cohen, Jeremy Geiger, Daniel Elchediak and Alex Berardi, took the time to explain the specifics that go along with putting this event on at other schools.

“What you’re about to be a part of is indescribable in my mind,” Brecker told her audience. All you need to do is bring them to the event and they are hooked. This is the greatest thing and I’m so unbelievably excited. It’s a very big part of my life.”