Header Image: Explorathon members reveal their total for the event. Image courtesy of Savanna Carestio
On April 2, La Salle’s yearly Exploration event raised over $31,000 for The B+ Foundation which works to provide financial and emotional support to families of children with cancer nationwide while funding critical, cutting-edge childhood cancer research. B+ is constantly raising money on college campuses and at local events like 5K races, Golf Outings, corporate partnerships and dance marathons. Explorathon hosted their event in the Union Ballroom from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. and featured guest speakers, student talents, dancing, a rave and games. Fundraising and efforts for this event began last May and continued until the event concluded on Saturday night.
Dance marathon fundraisers are especially popular at colleges in the area like Penn State University and Villanova University that benefit different charities. These events typically benefit organizations that fund pediatric cancer research and treatment. The B+ Foundation is the largest provider of financial assistance to families of kids with cancer in the U.S., helping nearly 3,000 families this year. In addition, B+ provided funding to over 150 critical childhood cancer research projects at top institutions globally. The top fundraising teams were the Delta Phi Epsilon sorority, the executive board for Explorathon, the Phi Mu sorority, the Elite Explorers team and La Salle Women’s Soccer. The top fundraising individuals were Kristin Frederick, Tehya Williams, Stasia Nguyen, Ashleigh Sieb and Cade. Various teams participated in this event including Greek life, athletics, academic clubs and more, uniting students throughout campus and various organizations to work together towards this cause.
Many different students were on board for this event. Junior Melina Rallis worked as the morale coordinator for Explorathon. She explained that she works event planning. Rallis explained that she is the “hype man” for Explorathon. Rallis also expressed that it can take a lot of effort to get students involved with Explorathon because members of Greek life have their own philanthropies and college students are among the busiest of individuals. So, each team selects a team captain to communicate the information to and from the Explorathon executive board and their different teams.
As for fundraising, Explorathon does fundraising all year like posting bingo boards on social media, sending emails and having fundraising nights at local restaurants. Rallis also spoke fondly of the actual Explorathon event, saying “was a lot of fun and we had a ton of games. We played human hungry-hungry hippos, we had a lip sync battle, we made cards for some of the Be positive heroes.” Rallis also said that the event was effective for personal growth and accomplishment as feels “very accomplished after this all. Although we didn’t raise our goal we still raised $31,308 and I’m super proud of everyone who is involved who made this possible.”
Mellissa Olimpo, a junior communication student and executive director of Explorathon, said, “ It was a great day of dancing, having fun and raising money for the ‘Andrew McDonough Be Positive Foundation.’ Explorathon was able to raise $31,308.70, which means that 31 families are being helped because of Explorathon.”
2020’s Explorathon raised over $22,000 for childhood cancer, and 2021’s Explorathon raised $39,000 for B+, helping out roughly 39 families through the participation of over 25 teams and organizations. While Explorathon did not hit their goal, they did succeed in helping the B+ foundation in their efforts to help those suffering from childhood cancer. Preparations have already begun for next year’s event, and more details will be shared on their Instagram page @lasalleexplorathon.
The La Salle Collegian 