Upper Merion students to host virtual fundraiser for Four Diamonds

Source, The Times Herald

UPPER MERION – The students of Upper Merion High School, located in King of Prussia, will be holding a virtual fundraiser on March 25th, 2021 from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm. The event, organized by the Mini-THON Committee at Upper Merion is run by senior student leaders, Aryana Chambers and Valentina Marino, and junior leaders, Daniel Isajiw and Rose West. All of the money raised at the event will go towards Four Diamonds at Penn State’s Hershey Children’s Hospital in Hershey. Mini-THON is based off of the Penn State Dance Marathon – the largest student-run philanthropy in the world where students are dancing and staying awake for 46 hours straight in order to raise money for pediatric cancer.

Mini-THONs have been around since the 1990s and have grown tremendously over the last couple decades with more than 90,000 students at 265 schools in eight states participating. At Upper Merion Area High School, students are encouraged to raise a minimum of $40 in sponsorship so they can participate in the event, but also can attend by contributing any amount to the school goal. While the past year has been difficult financially for many, the students desired to continue our support for children facing the challenges of battling pediatric cancer during a pandemic. This will be Upper Merion’s ninth year holding a Mini-THON, and they plan on making the most of this annual tradition.

Leading up to the event, the Upper Merion Mini-THON Committee has held numerous restaurant fundraisers from local businesses such as Peppers, California Pizza Kitchen, Suzy Jo Donuts, Petrucci’s Ice Cream, and Mod Pizza. Many area businesses have also contributed to sponsoring the event shirts and signs, such as William H. Lane; Achieve Next, LLC; Bello, Reilley, McGrory & Dipippo, PC; VFW Post 7878; S&B Event Concepts and Catering and King of Prussia Rotary. Other companies, like Costco, Giant, Wawa, Mission BBQ, and Bella Capelli and Applebees sponsored gift baskets. Mini-THON Junior head, Rose West, has also organized a donation drive to assist both the Philadelphia and Hershey Ronald McDonald Houses. Activities such as “Zoom” ba, virtual group games, and minute to win it activities will be held during the event as well as friendly dance and lip-syncing competitions between grades. These activities will help the students stay active during the event before hearing the stories of the pediatric cancer families we have been supporting throughout the year.

Four Diamonds aims to bring people together in order to defeat pediatric cancer by giving the children being treated at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital along with their families an abundance of support and extensive care all while continuing to advance in research. If you are interested in donating, contributions are being accepted on our Donor Drive page: https://fourdiamonds.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participantList&eventID=2966&filter=participant

For more information, please contact Laura Ebersole at lebersole@umasd.org.