Staying up all night long, spending time with friends, and creating memories is a fun Friday night for any teenager. But doing so is even more special when it’s to benefit a worthy cause. Organizers of this year’s BASH Mini-THON – the all-night fundraiser that has raised $65,000 to help families battling pediatric cancer – hope students see it that way and will participate.

The annual event will be held at the school from 6 p.m. Friday, March 28^th until 6 a.m. the next morning. Activities include dancing and games.

Senior Marlee Snyder said she definitely plans on attending. “I heard it was so much fun,” she said. “It’s my senior year and I’d like to go.”

Organizers kicked off the event Friday with an emotional pep rally in the Bear Gym. Bob Wagner, whose 8^th grade daughter has T-Cell Lymphoma, spoke to students.

He told of how The Four Diamonds Fund, which all Mini-THON proceeds go to, helped his family from the moment Brittany, a student in the Governor Mifflin district, was diagnosed on March 15, 2012. Ironically, it was also his birthday.

Wagner describes the heartbreaking day as “the worst present a father could ever receive.” Despite the terrible news, doctors said his daughter had a good chance of beating her disease because of the resources available at Hershey Children’s Hospital. They also told him Four Diamonds Fund would help take care of medical bills that insurance did not cover. “You don’t know what a relief that was,” he said.

Wagner also discussed the importance of the cancer research that Four Diamonds funds.

His hope, he said, is that someday a child will have to ask, “What’s cancer?”

The theme for Mini-THON this year is “Just Keep Swimming” fromFinding Nemo. The goal is to raise $35,000 in order to reach a cumulative total of $100,000.

BASH isn’t the only school to participate in the Mini-THON, which replicates the Penn State THON on a smaller scale. In the past year, 100 schools hosted events, raising more than $2 million for the Four Diamonds Fund.