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Granville High School completed an annual fundraiser to fight blood cancer in children with a pickleball tournament on Memorial Day Weekend on May 29th. (Photo: Craig McDonald / The Lawyer)

Granville High School ended its annual Pennies for Patients / Hero Squad fundraiser to help fight blood cancer in children with a pickleball tournament on Memorial Day over the weekend.

Granville Schools educator JR Wait, who teaches at Granville High School, said the school has been involved in this effort for many years.

See also: Granville Memorial Day Photo Gallery

This year’s effort was expected to bring in about $ 20,000, well above the original target of $ 15,000, Wait said.

The efforts of the Granville Schools are one of the most successful fundraising drives in the state of Ohio. The money raised will go to the Central Ohio Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help patients, families, doctors and researchers fight blood cancer in children.

“Each class at Granville High School has its own fundraiser,” explained Wait, “and then there’s a big one at the end.”

The pickleball tournament on Saturday, May 29, relocated to the gym that Saturday morning due to unusual weather conditions, was the district’s seventh and final such fundraising event this year, according to Wait.

He said the community contribution led to the decision to end the Pickleball tournament, something he believed would be popular and potentially raise significant amounts of money.

The tournament featured 40 teams, competing in mixed doubles and men’s and women’s doubles tournaments, drawing participants from Licking, Franklin, Delaware, Muskingum and Coshocton counties, he said.

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This year’s and last year’s general fundraising campaigns were of course badly affected by COVID-19 and the restrictions that came with it.

“It was very complicated,” said Wait in a telephone interview on May 26th. “It was very difficult for children who were from afar to get involved, but you have to credit them for staying involved. We had to be creative sometimes. “

The annual promotion also relies on contributions and sponsorship from local businesses and individuals, as well as national sponsorships, Wait said.

“The kids reach these companies with handwritten letters,” said Wait, “and that’s a really, really big part of how we get our money.”

The GHS annual efforts “in some form or another have lasted nearly 20 years at our school,” said Wait. “First it was the school counselors, then our math department.”

Three years ago, Wait signed up to lead the fundraiser.

The other six fundraisers held this year were “organic, chosen by the kids,” he said, and included a “March Madness” bracket challenge, video game tournament, and “Concert for the Cure”.

Wait said, “That was a nice thing that was new this year. What we did was we had an open air concert in the high school parking lot a few weeks ago and people were sitting in their cars, deck chairs. It was pretty neat. “

You can find pictures from this and other events and more about the annual campaign on Twitter at @ghspfp

Wait praised the support of Stacy Danczak of Central Ohio LLS and Granville High School principal Matt Durst, whom Wait said “went out of his way to run this program every year I was on.” End support. ”

“We are proud and excited to volunteer on behalf of a group that has raised more than $ 370 million since 1993 to support the mission to cure childhood blood cancer and improve the lives of patients and their families “Said Wait.

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