BERWICK, Pa. — Inside, outside, on the line, and on the stage. There's a lot happening at the Teen Center on 6th Avenue in Berwick.
"We're doing our fifth annual Cause-A-Thon, which is a little different than our past ones. We've normally done a lock-in event, but this year it's a telephone. That's our second one. So there's live performances from like, groups from school and like the local community," said Megan Golomb, Youth Action Board President.
But it's not just all fun and games. The purpose of the phone calls or the cornhole is to raise money for the ThinkBIG Pediatric Cancer Fund.
"Our goal is to reach over $6,000. The money is going towards the Think Big pediatric cancer fund, which goes towards those types of families that are suffering from cancer," said Golomb.
"So the money that we raised today will go directly to families and local communities who are unfortunately diagnosed with pediatric cancer go to help pay their mortgage, their rent, their p&l Bill, all their electric utilities, everything like that. So that's that's really where all of our all of our donations that are coming in today we're going to," said Mark Stankiewicz, ThinkBIG Pediatric Cancer Fund.
What's almost as impressive as the thousands of dollars this event raises for families in need is the fact it's all youth-led.
Yes, there are some adult supervisors, but this is something students in the Berwick area take ownership and pride in.
"It's really amazing to see the youth or communities come together, and it's such a neat event to be able to raise money from local families. As they battled pediatric cancer, which is our mission," said Stankiewicz.
"We have monthly meetings. It takes over a couple of months to put this together. So it's a lot of time, but it's definitely worth it," said Golomb.
"I really love it because I've just been able to stay with it for so long and be a part of it for so long that it has revealed to me as a person, which I really love to see it get bigger and bigger every year," said Sabrina Preston, Berwick Area Senior.
"It's amazing. You know, some of our some of our best fundraisers are the youth in our communities. We've seen high schoolers and even elementary schoolers like come together for this cause, and they all kind of join hands and raise money for really for families in their neighborhoods. It could be your neighbor or somebody down the block that is battling this disease, and you might not even know it. So it's amazing to see the youth come together and really help us out," said Stankiewicz.
The Cause-A-Thon raised $12,300 from its event on Sunday, and it doesn't stop there! More fundraising events will be held throughout May, with a final reveal at the end of the month.
To learn more about ThinkBIG and how to get involved, head to their website by clicking here.
Check out WNEP’s YouTube page.