READING, Pa. – Inside this room tonight, there\u2019s laughter, there\u2019s music, and there\u2019s purpose.<\/p>\n
As students and volunteers put the final touches on Inspire the Night, Penn State Berks\u2019 annual fundraiser benefiting THON, one mother\u2019s story grounds the evening.<\/p>\n
Ashley Sierra is here in support of the cause.<\/p>\n
Her daughter, Gabbie, has been fighting cancer for the past four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you walk into a gala like this, as a parent, it is overwhelming emotionally, in good ways, wonderful, beautiful, magical ways, but also in such a heavy way,\u201d Ashley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy daughter made it, and I\u2019m so lucky that she did. But there are going to be families here tonight whose kids didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Penn State Berks students have spent months preparing for this night, all to support pediatric cancer research and families walking the same road Ashley\u2019s family has traveled.<\/p>\n
\u201cPenn State created this dance marathon where students raise money all year long,\u201d said Lindsey Giacobello, a student leader with Penn State Berks Benefitting THON. \u201cTHON itself happens in February, and we fundraise from July through February to support families and research.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s goal: more than $20,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to end tonight with a smile on my face,\u201d said Paige Brightwell, another student organizer. \u201cI want to be able to give our families the biggest smile that they can.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the impact doesn\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n
Downstairs, the same space will transform again, this time for the Dance for a Cure Winter Formal, organized by the Moms Club of Sinking Spring in partnership with the Reading Fightin Phils. The event welcomes young children and their families, raising money for kids battling leukemia at Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do this so that no family ever has to fight alone,\u201d said Olivia Rice, a Penn State Berks THON organizer.<\/p>\n
Information on donating and getting involved is available at https:\/\/thon.org<\/a>. Supporters can also learn more about the Dance for a Cure Winter Formal, benefiting the Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia, through the Moms Club of Sinking Spring<\/a> and the Reading Fightin Phils<\/a> websites and social media pages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"READING, Pa. – Inside this room tonight, there\u2019s laughter, there\u2019s music, and there\u2019s purpose. As students and volunteers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[44161,44163,44160,44157,128,130,129,44158,44159,44162],"class_list":["post-88998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-annual-fundraiser","tag-dance-for-a-cure","tag-moms-club-of-sinking-spring","tag-penn-state-berks","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-reading-fightin-phils","tag-redners-event-center","tag-thon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}