On December 20th, Southern Lehigh’s girls basketball team hosted a charity game to raise money for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley.

The planning of the event began weeks before the actual game.

“Each year we do a charity event; last year was autism awareness. I wanted to pick something different. I found this foundation through Kate Miller [the coordinator of athletic services at Southern Lehigh] and I called the director of the foundation who liked the idea of having a charity game,” girls basketball coach Ms. Megan Dellegrotti said.

Once the team found an organization to donate to, they began the fundraising by selling hats at lunches and making announcements each morning.

“Everyone sells t-shirts. We went with the idea that a lot of kids [with cancer] are losing hair, so selling hats instead would be something new, and a fun way to try and lift the kids’ spirits,” Dellegrotti said.

The money raised will go directly to the families with children affected by cancer. The girls on the basketball team accepted donations for the families to support them during the hard times they face.

“[We accepted] anything that will directly help the families, like toiletries and Target and Walmart gift cards, and gas cards because some of the families do a lot of traveling,” sophomore Olivia Reichly said.

The children they raised money for attended the game on December 20th.

“We didn’t get to visit the kids at the hospital because there are too many of us on the team, but some of them came to the game, and they were recognized at halftime,” sophomore Madyson Campbell said.

“In total we sold 235 hats, collected ten boxes of donations for the comfort care bags, and raised 300 dollars in gift cards and monetary donations,” Dellegrotti said.

Both the varsity and junior varsity teams won their games, and there was a decent turnout from the community.

To learn more about pediatric cancer and the Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley, visit www.pcflv.org.