Washington Township prepares for annual Helping Hands Super Bowl Hoagie Sale scheduled for Feb. 4
At the time he was diagnosed with cancer in 2010, Washington Township native Jacob Thies was living and volunteering as a teacher in Africa. After returning home for treatment, he was declared cancer-free. However, seven years later, Thies was diagnosed again, this time requiring difficult treatment to fight the high-risk disease.
Diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at birth, Abby Burr spent countless months in the hospital over the past 20 years of her life. Last year, she received a double lung transplant and now makes a visit to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania three times a week, alongside taking more than 30 oral medications a day.
On Thursday, Jan. 18, students and staff of the Washington Township school district sat silently as they watched these stories unfold in a video created by the Changing Our World Project. Thies and Burr are just two of at least 20 of this year’s Helping Hands Super Bowl Hoagie Sale recipients, including a family whose 10-month old baby has not been home since her first open heart surgery in March after being born with a congenital heart disease.
A montage of students from across the district cheering, “We are heroes, township,” concluded the video.
“At no point in their lives when they were young did they think they would be in a position where they would need a hero,” Superintendent Joseph Bollendorf said of the presented recipients shown in the video. “When the opportunity presents itself to step up and make a difference for somebody else, you do that because you will not know if someday you’ll be in a position where you’ll need someone to step up and be your hero, too.”
This year is the 23rd anniversary of the Helping Hands Super Bowl Hoagie Sale, one of Washington Township’s largest annual community service events, scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 4. Organized by the COW Project, Washington Township High School Students in Action and members of the six elementary and three middle school Future Acts Clubs, along with student-athletes and community volunteers, the event provides financial support for local families and residents in need.
At last week’s assembly, former recipient David Walls, a member of the Washington Township High School Child Study Team, spoke on the impact the hoagie sale had on his life when he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, which ultimately took his left leg in June 2016.
“The Helping Hands Hoagie Sale was able to provide me with a lot of encouragement through letters, but also financial help as well,” Walls said. “Helping Hands helped alleviate the fears I had [financially].”
This year, on Super Bowl Sunday, approximately 300 volunteers will gather at Washington Township High School to make the hoagies, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Ganttown Road entrance of the high school, student volunteers will distribute pre-ordered hoagies while student-athletes continue to make sales on the streets throughout town.
In partnership with Hoagies for Humanity, sponsored by Inspira Hospital, hundreds of hoagies will be donated to local senior centers and area homeless, funded through grants by the Washington Township Education Association, Pay It Forward and Helping Hands.
“We’re changing the world one hoagie at a time,” Orchard Valley Middle School teacher Ron Lucarini said. “If somebody buys one hoagie, they don’t realize how helpful that is.”
Last year, the event sold a record number of 5,000 hoagies, raising more than $50,000 for local families in need. At the time, the sale had reached $601,000 in all-time funds raised.
“These things don’t happen unless we collectively decide to ban together as a community and do something really positive,” Bollendorf said. “When people who are sick see there is an entire community of people they don’t even know coming together, the lift in their spirit can sometimes be the little thing they need to get through the next day, to continue to fight the fight.”
While there have been numerous fundraising efforts to lead up to the grand event, such as a dress-down day for teachers on Jan. 26 if they purchased a Helping Hands Hoagies Sale T-shirt, pre-sale orders are critical in funding the materials needed to supply enough hoagies on the day of the event.
“I encourage the community to pre-order hoagies for no other reason than they’re doing something positive, taking their hard-earned dollars and knowing it’s going to a good cause and helping real people in need,” Bollendorf said.
According to a district release, two-foot party hoagies are available in classic Italian, turkey or cheese, and are the equivalent of two hoagies for $10 each. For parties of 10 to 12 people, hoagie trays are available for $50.
Those interested in placing an order or making a donation should contact Maddy LaVoe at Orchard Valley Middle School at (856) 582–5353, ext. 5709, email mlavoe@wtps.org, or visit www.thecowproject.com by Thursday, Feb. 1. All checks should be made payable to Changing Our World Project.
To view the video presented at the school assembly, visit www.thecowproject.com and www.wtps.org.
