As Manheim Township’s annual Mini-THON approaches on March 1st, many students are preparing for the night. Behind the scenes, the entire Mini-THON committee is preparing as well. Along with the Design, Food, Morale, and Tech/Media branches, DAR (Donor Alumni Relations) is working tirelessly to finalize last-minute details. DAR is responsible for raising the money that makes Mini-THON possible. The DAR heads for the 2019 mini-THON are Andrew Lemon, Erica Corey, Riley Baldwin, and Abby Clark. These heads, along with the general committee, are the faces of Manheim Township’s Mini-THON as they meet with businesses.

“In any case, we are making phone calls and meeting with business organizations all over Manheim Township to work towards our fundraising goal,” said Andrew Lemon, a committee head for DAR.

Each member of DAR general committee, the members that are not the committee heads, receives a list of businesses to call. The overall heads of Mini-THON and the DAR heads meet with the general committee around once a month to ensure that the members are doing their part in calling the businesses. The committee is in charge of bringing in new donors, but more importantly, ensuring the business of donors from previous years. The money that DAR brings into the event helps to fund games, bounce houses, Zumba instructors, and any other expense that comes up during the planning of the event.

DAR puts in a lot of work for the preparation of the events and the fun activities during the night. The work of the committee does not stop at the time of the event though, as many members have to work during Mini-THON on March 1st.

“DAR helps just as much as any other Mini-THON committee during the course of the actual Mini-THON event.” The technopower hour, an event during mini-THON where students can dance in the dark with glow sticks and other props, is an example of what DAR works on at the event. “DAR helps plan their portions of the night, from tic-tac-toe games to helping with technopower hour and many games provided by businesses and contributors,” said Lemon.