On March 16th, at Salesianum School, the very anticipated SALSthon took place. SALSthon was an all night event, in which students danced and played games to raise awareness for childhood cancer. The student council, seniors AJ Campli, Joe Casini, Brandon Piane, and Nick Galentine, organized and gained support for the event. “We wanted to raise the money for childhood cancer because it’s something so many people are affected by, even in our own communities,” AJ Campli stated, “we thought it was right to honor kids like Andrew, Pearce, Savannah, and Mason because they are true heroes.”
In addition to attending the dance, all students were encouraged to tweet the hashtag “#SALSthon” to raise awareness for the event. As students tweeted family, friends, and celebrities about the dance, the hashtag started trending on twitter in the Philadelphia area. Radio stations had also talked about the event multiple times to inform their listeners. Padua junior Abby Hidalgo and Sallies senior AJ Campli spoke about SALSthon on Delaware’s radio station, 93.7 WSTW. “Last year I had the opportunity to co-host 93.7 as field experience for a persuasive speech for my literature class,” Abby said, “I learned a lot from my night there, and decided to keep in contact for future opportunities.” Abby also mentioned that her brother was involved with SALSthon, and she wanted to help out as well. “I wanted to show my support and stand up for the kids who can’t. I wanted to be the change.”
Besides just raising awareness, many schools and communities raised money for the B+ Foundation. Since 46 kids are diagnosed with cancer each day, the goal for SALSthon was to raise $46,000. A few weeks before the event, the ultimate goal was reached when an anonymous donor donated nearly half of the goal, $20,000. However, $46,000 was not the finish line, but merely a checkpoint.
SALSthon was started off by Joe McDonough, founder of the B+ Foundation, making an emotional speech about his son, Andrew, who lost a battle with leukemia in 2007. He also introduced two other guest speakers: Atlanta Falcons tight end Andrew Szczerba and Tim Furlong from NBC Philadelphia News. Both of the inspirational people spoke about how Andrew McDonough and the Salesianum community affected their lives. Andrew Szczerba made an especially important point during his speech. He mentioned that when life gets rough, he looks down at his wrist where he wears three bracelets: one from his niece, one B+ bracelet, and one for his uncle who was killed in the line of duty. The bracelets give him strength to carry on and to fight for the people who couldn’t.
That is exactly what the nearly 700 students at the dance did. They danced for 9 hours for all the children affected by cancer. They did it for the kids. “It was so much fun,” said sophomore Erin Spadaccini, “I think the fact that it was all for a good cause made it way more fun and memorable too. It was for an amazing cause and each and every person made a difference.”
When all students first arrived at the dance, they received a colored wristband to show what team they were on: red, blue, yellow, or pink. These played a prominent role for all the activities throughout the night. The student council kept everyone awake by organizing different activities, including human bingo, musical corners, and a newspaper fashion show. When students were not dancing or participating in the activities, they were in the lobby trying to stay awake by drinking coffee or eating cookies, pretzels, and Chick-fil-a.
At the end of the night, it was revealed that the grand total from the event was $73, 532.35, nearly $28,000 more than the original goal. The B+ Foundation was unbelievably grateful for everyone who donated and participated in this event. “The most appealing part of the B+ Foundation to me was that they don’t simply fund cancer research, but they also help families pay any bills they can’t, due to the expenses of cancer treatments and hospital stays,” added senior AJ Campli. “The ultimate goal is for that money to save at least one life, and eventually help in making the number children diagnosed each day go from 46 to 0.” The student council, B+ Foundation, and all those who attended the dance hope to make SALSthon an annual event to raise more money and awareness for childhood cancer each year.
