Hoops for Hope was a night to see the Berlin community come together to help Shannon Klawitter, parent of freshman Tannyon Klawitter and social studies teacher, Jennifer Leahy, raise money for their battles against cancer. Klawitter is battling blood cancer and Leahy is battling breast cancer.
Basketball head coach Jeremy Mercer, and his team of basketball coaches had talked about doing a fundraiser for a while but were just waiting for a good cause to do it. They thought this would be the perfect time to help show their support for their fellow teammates and staff.
“It was just nice to see that everybody wanted to help out,”said Tannyon.
In order to do so a lot of planning had to be done. Student Council Co-President Aubrey Kurczek was very helpful with planning the fundraiser.
“My role in planning the fundraiser was coordinating with Mr. Mercer the whole event. From coming up with raffle basket ideas, how the 50/50 raffle is going to work, if we want fundraiser t-shirts as well as the event time and date, supplies, decorations, and volunteers. A big thank you to Mr. Mercer for contacting local businesses who donated raffle baskets and getting in touch with our tee-shirt donors,” Kurczek said.
Kurczek was able to help out by buying decorations and ticket supplies, organizing volunteers and running the raffle baskets and 50/50 raffle sales during the event. Besides planning the fundraiser, Mercer had many other things on his mind.
“To get the community to come together to support a good cause and to help people in our family, our Berlin family,” Mercer said.
This is exactly what happened. There were several people who helped coordinate this event, who were willing to help out by donating prizes, and just many people who showed up to show their support.
“My favorite part of the fundraiser was seeing the whole community come together to help advocate and donate towards really important causes. It was also amazing to see how big the turn-out of the event was!” Kurczek said.
This is exactly what happened. There were many businesses who were willing to donate to the cause.
“Patina Vie from Ripon, Country Inn, Mastricola’s On Broadway, Mascoutin Golf Course, Farmers and Merchants bank, Tractor Supply Co, and a group of senior parents donated a basket,” Mercer said.
There were many opportunities for the guests who attended to win prizes.
“We sold t-shirts, we did a basket raffle from a number of community businesses, and then we also did a 50/50 raffle,” Mercer said.
This fundraiser was important to many people because it was a way of showing up for the community. It was especially important to Kurczek and the Student Council because Leahy is the adviser.
“Despite her diagnosis, Ms. Leahy has remained deeply involved in supporting the Student Council and enriching the student experience. This fundraiser represents the Student Council’s way of giving back to an adviser who has given so much to others,” Kurczek said.
This fundraiser ended up being a success as they were able to raise money for both Leahy and Klawitter, and see the community come together to support the cause.
“We ended up raising $6,300. It was awesome. I would like to just say a huge thank you to everyone who came out and supported. I was very overwhelmed by the generosity of our community,” Mercer said.
