OAHS LEOs Club hold all-night dance-a-thon to benefit CF Foundation

Members of the LEOs Club at Oxford Area High School are pictured at their recent dance-a-thon fundraiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Front from left are Briann Zimmerman, Liz Hershey, Eddie Diaz, Corinne Blessington and Ashley Price; second row from left, Alice Ledger, liaison to the Oxford Lions Club; Jenna Moyer, Devon Smith, Teresa Freisleben, Emily Owens, club treasurer; Elanna Manco, Maddie Irving and Heather Way, president; third row from left, Caroline Hamilton, Britanny Coleman, Melissa Huff, secretary; Kim Cotterwas, Sara Freisleben and Mary-Rachel Ledger; top from left, Var Coberly and Jose Zavala.

The Oxford Area High School chapter of LEOs, a community service organization of Lions Clubs International sponsored by the Oxford Lions Club, held an 11-hour dance-a-thon from the evening of February 17 to the morning of February 18 at Redman’s Hall, Oxford, with 100 percent of the admission proceeds going to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The event included early evening dancing for children ages up to sixth grade, followed by dancing for middle school and high school students all night long.

In addition to raising money for Cystic Fibrosis research, the LEOs collected pairs of prescription glasses and cases as part of Lions International’s Recycle for Sight program. The glasses will be cleaned, sorted by prescription strength and distributed to people in need in developing countries.

The dance-a-thon was the culminating event of Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Week at the high school, during which LEOs members collected donations from students and staff totaling $1,341 which, combined with $1,969 raised during the dance-a-thon, resulted in a donation of more than $3,300 to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

The LEOs Club was inspired by the annual Pan-Hellenic Dance Marathon at Penn State University, which supports the Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital and is the largest student-run charity event in the world. The dance-a-thon was the first major event to be sponsored by LEOs, now in its second year at Oxford Area High School.

The club decided to have the dance-a-thon benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation after learning more about the disease from a classmate diagnosed with CF, a life-threatening disorder that causes severe lung damage and nutritional deficiencies.

Several local businesses supported the event and Redman’s Hall was donated to the LEOs for the event at no cost.

From left are Jose Mendez, David McIntyre, Kristen Miles and Mackenzie Johnson.

From left are Victor Sanchez, Quin Barker and Tim Davis.