Memorial dance-a-thon reaches $100K goal for leukemia programs.
Students at a previous Father Serra Catholic School Dance-A-Thon are (right to left) Carlos Galling Reed Penn, Jonathan Doria, Carlie Primumo and Hana Visic. In its nine years of fundraising for leukemia research, the school has raised over $100,000.
Staff file photo/IAN KELSO
An Etobicoke Catholic elementary school has raised more than $100,000 for leukemia programs and research in memory of a late student, making it the national society's top fundraising school in Ontario.
Father Serra Catholic School hosts its ninth annual Give from the Heart Dance-a-thon today in support of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada.
Give from the Heart remembers former student Ian Macdonald. Ian died of leukemia in May 2004 after a valiant six-year battle with the disease. He was 9.
Ian loved to dance. Ian's mom, Joanne, attends the school's dance-a-thon every year.
The majority of Father Serra's donations have gone to the society's patient services, with funds also directed to leukemia research.
"Leukemia remains the most common pediatric cancer (those age 19 and younger). Leukemia accounts for 26 per cent of all childhood cancers and causes 28 per cent of deaths due to childhood cancer," said Andrea Swinton, executive director, Ontario Region with The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada. "Father Serra Catholic School's eight-year long commitment to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada is nothing short of astounding...
"Their support funds lifesaving blood cancer research. We continue to look forward to their annual dance-a-thon and celebrate their achievement."
Gerri Lucia, Father Serra teacher and dance-a-thon co-ordinator, is equally elated with the students' and community's generosity.
"We're very proud really, really overwhelmed that we've come this far," Lucia said Wednesday of Father Serra's $104,000 in leukemia fundraising.
"Some kids bring whatever they have in the bank. Others ask for donations from their families. It comes directly from our community. They show an overwhelming response to our dance-a-thon every single year."
Some students donate as much as $250, Lucia reported.
The fundraising feat is accomplished by fewer than 500 students of The Westway and Islington Avenue-area school.
"It's a lot of money. We figure it's about a $20 donation per child," Lucia said. "We average $12,000 to $15,000 in donations each year. One year, we raised $16,000. Another year, we raised $17,000."
Each year, Lucia approaches the society to provide a speaker to share their personal experience or that of a family member as part of the school's assembly on leukemia and lymphoma awareness.
Scott Leone spoke this year about his daughter Isabella, three-and-a-half, and her nearly two-year battle with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). ALL is a cancer of the lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell involved in the body's immune system.
Leone and little Isabella will be at the dance-a-thon today.
Lucia educates younger students on leukemia with a Charlie Brown and Snoopy video provided by the society.
Today, morning junior and senior kindergarten and grades 1 through 6 classes will head down to the school gym to dance in the morning. Afternoon kindergarteners follow in the afternoon. By mid-afternoon, the dance-a-thon turns into a grade 7-8 dance.
Visit www.tinyurl.com/fatherserradance to donate to Father Serra's dance-a-thon in support of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada.