The better half of my sophomore year was spent being the vice president of South Williamsport Mini-THON club and working alongside our president, Gianna Godfrey, along with Michael Rodgers and Michael Allison, our club advisors, and a team of great students who made this year’s Mini-THON possible.

Our Mini-THON tradition was broken in 2021 due to COVID-19, but this year, we came back better than ever in the fight against pediatric cancer.

If you didn’t know, our Mini-THON comes from Penn State’s THON that lasts 46 straight hours. During the 46-hour marathon, they have guest speakers, performances on stage, music, and much more. During South Williamsport’s 12-hour version of THON that lasts from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., we have bounce houses, volleyball, four-square, a mural to paint, a gaming station, dancing hours, hair donations, and a couple of honorary moments for people within our community who have had experiences with cancer.

All the funds raised within THON events go to the Four Diamonds organization that provides support for families that have a kid who has childhood cancer. Four Diamonds pays for treatment, housing, and any other necessary bills that a family may need help with during this hard time.

It’s wholesome to see our small community and school come together to raise a significant amount of money for this cause.

This year’s Mini-THON broke the South Williamsport record. We raised a new record of $31,296.58.

Let me tell you how we did it!

It starts at the beginning of the school year. We ‘canned’ for donations at each football game. We, as a club, also ran one of the concession stands and kept the profit of what it made. The next step was the fall fundraiser, which was a sandwich and pizza sale this year. The profit of the sales were once again kept and added into our final total. A big contribution to our amount raised was business donations! If a business donates a certain amount, they can land a spot on the back of our annual t-shirt that almost every student attending gets to wear the night of Mini-THON. Whether or not they make it onto the back of our t-shirt, all donations are helpful and appreciated!

A newer addition to the process of raising money would be our Tiny-THON that we host annually as well. Tiny-THON is a fundraiser that includes the elementary-aged kids from 3rd grade to 6th grade. Since they can’t stay too long at our big event, Tiny-THON was created a few years back to raise additional money and incorporate younger children in the fight against pediatric cancer.

The kids have loved the event, and they are welcome to join us during the Community Hours at Mini-THON as well.

The biggest step to our fundraising is getting kids in the high school (7th-12th grade) to register for Mini-THON! A registration packet and sixty dollars are needed to be turned in by a specific date to guarantee each student a t-shirt and access to the overnight experience that Mini-THON offers.

An easy way for students to raise their money would be to use DonorDrive.

DonorDrive is a website created by Four Diamonds to collect money in one spot. It is super easy to make an account and even easier to donate.

The last opportunity for us to raise money would be accepting donations at the door and selling raffle tickets during our Community Hours. After Community Hours end, we total up all of the money we raised before the morning and reveal it to all the students who end up staying overnight, with a suspenseful countdown at 7 a.m

While we have a few expectations of students and guests during Mini-THON, our most valued one would be for everyone to stand the whole night. We dance for those are unable, due to their illness. Whether you are playing board games, video games, four-square — if you are dancing or using the bungee run — we don’t want to see anyone sitting.

There is a lot of work behind the scenes of Mini-THON, but we, as a club, are so thankful for everyone that participated and helped us go above and beyond our goal this year.

Even though the hard work has just ended, I’m already looking forward to Mini-THON 2023 to hopefully see South Side beat our record once again.

I’m grateful to be associated with so many selfless people through this club, and I hope our small community has helped make a difference!