If you are unfamiliar with Mini-THON, it’s a 12-hour event held at our school from 6 pm February 29, to 6 am March 1st where we will all stand in solidarity for the many kids who fight childhood cancer every day. Lancaster Catholic’s Mini-THON started about nine years ago and has raised thousands of dollars for the Four Diamonds Fund, which allows families fighting pediatric cancer to never see a bill of the medical expenses. Last year, our total was over $46,000. This money allows Four Diamonds families to designate all of their time and attention to their child in the fight to beat this dreadful disease.
Mini-THON’s all around Pennsylvania and neighboring states are in conjunction to Penn State's THON—the stem of all Mini-THONs. We are all united in this fight, and someday we will find a cure for cancer! Your child has heard about the event throughout the year; now is the time that we really need to have one final push for signups and fundraising. We are asking you to please help us to remind your child to sign up for this event. Students can easily sign up through the following link:
https://fourdiamonds.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.event&eventID=2566
Every student who wishes to stay for the full 12-hour event must raise a minimum of $80, but we always encourage them not to limit themselves to that. Please check in with your child and see if they are interested in signing up, and please help support him/her in their efforts. In the coming weeks we will hold meetings in school for dancers in order for them to prepare for this commitment and confirm that they receive a permission form—which will need to be signed by parents/guardians, so please be on the lookout for that. While the entire night is extremely enjoyable, it does get very challenging to stay awake and stay standing once we hit the early hours of the morning.
To help make the night even better, we ask the parents to create a care package for their child. This care package should be personalized and full of fun items. Here are some ideas for what to include:
- Gatorade
- Candy/Granola Bars
- Bouncy Balls
- Bubbles
- Socks
- Letters of Encouragement
The care packages can be composed of boxes or gift bags, and they can be as large or as small as you see fit. Please do not include any medications or health items- all of those items should be checked in with the dancer at registration, and--moderator--Miss Newill should be informed that the student needs such items with them at the event prior to February 29th. We also ask that you do not include "messy” items such as silly string or slime. These items will be confiscated if seen, as they have the potential to ruin school property which we aim to avoid at all costs.
The dancers do not know when they will be receiving their care packages during the night, and we encourage you to keep the contents of their care package a secret to maintain the surprise factor. Please send in the package to school with your child or personally drop it off in the main office no later than Thursday, February 27th. Make sure to mark the package clearly with your students’ name so we can ensure they receive the gift.
This year we are offering a care package that you can pre-order. This package will cost $20, and must be ordered by Friday the 21st. Send a check (made payable to LCHS) or cash to school with your son or daughter for $20 to the main office. The care packages will include things like;
- Water/ Gatorade
- Sweet snack - rice crispy/ cookies
- Chips
- Stress ball/bouncy ball
- Bubbles
- Socks
Each year we hold a Community Hour portion of the night in which we welcome all families and community members to come in and get a look into our event to get a first-hand experience as to what it involves and support the cause. This will be held from 6-11 pm on February 29th with Mass being held before, at 5 pm, which everyone is encouraged to join us for. All dancers will be required to attend Mass prior to the event. If you would like to come experience our event and are willing to help us as a parent volunteer we would be very thankful for any amount of help you're willing to offer. Below is a link to a sign-up genius which will be used to sign up as a volunteer for however long you're willing to stay during the night. Please consider giving of your time, we cannot do this without you! If you have a diocesan clearance please include that when you sign up.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080c48aeaf2ca7f94-minithon
Lastly, if you would still like to support our Mini-THON, and are looking for other ways of doing so here are some other options:
- Donate money directly through the link above that dancers use to sign up. Simply hit the "Donate To This Event” button.
- Purchase a luminary to remember or honor a loved one which will be used during our Midnight Luminaria Ceremony. Simply fill out the form attached and send it to the school with the money ($10 per luminary). They can be returned to the main office, Mrs. Hamer or Ms. Newill.
If you have any questions or would like to donate in a way not mentioned above, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] .
Carmen Guzman and Leanna Smith
2020 Executive Directors