On Friday, March 6, approximately 530 Dallastown  students arrived through the doors of the high school at 7 p.m., preparing to stand for 12 hours united in the purpose of supporting kids battling cancer.

As the sun rose on Saturday, March 7, they left having set a record.

This year, almost 100 students and faculty advisers, such as Mrs. Stefanie Smeltzer and senior Anna Hartman, worked together to plan this event and help it run smoothly.

“To us, Mini-THON is so much bigger than planning fun activities to do all night.  Knowing the impact that our event has on the families is truly inspiring,” Hartman, head of the Entertainment Committee said.  

Mini-THON is a student-led fundraising program modeled after Penn State’s THON. At the event, students participated in tournaments, dancing, crafts, and other activities. 

“We also want students to realize that they are committed to standing all night as we are standing up for children who are fighting a much worse battle at the moment,” Smeltzer said.

Students all raised a minimum of $50 to attend to directly support Four Diamonds, which provides care, financial resources, and research for childhood cancer. This helps families put their focus and attention into their kids in need instead of working overtime to pay bills. 

“We are hopeful that students try to fundraise more to go above and beyond the $50 minimum.  Don’t stop there…keep fundraising so we can continue to raise more and more for the kids!  We want students not to look at this as a ticket to an event, but as a fundraiser to help children with cancer.” Smeltzer said. 

With a total of 542 kids registered and donated, Dallastown was able to reach a grand total of $140,120.67, surpassing the goal of $140,000.

“I think we had a very successful event,”Smeltzer said. “Raising $140,000 is not an easy task, and we did it!”

On top of students fundraising, student committee members reached out to businesses for donations, along with many other tasks, to make this event successful.

Different corporations, such as Sweet Willows Creamery, Dakota’s Legacy, and the American Legion Auxiliary, contributed generously to assist in the total fundraising to help surpass our goal.  

Behind the scenes, these committee members and teacher advisors worked hard planning games and activities, preparing meals, keeping in touch with the Four Diamond families, and more.

Students at the event had opportunities to play tournaments like volleyball and basketball, decorate their own sunglasses or paint, and pop in to the cafeteria for a Shirley Temple all thanks to the crew behind the scenes. 

“We usually start meeting as a committee early on in the school year, but we really start to plan all of the events starting around December,” Hartman said. 

Other committees work year round fundraising with Beat Cancer t-shirts, canning, and this year, the Harlem Wizards basketball game.

Mini-THON is already starting to plan for 2027, with applications for student committees, setting goals and spring fundraisers. 

Looking forward, next year MiniTHON will continue to take place striving to increase its total donations, all for the kids.