About 350 Washington Township High School students assembled in the school’s 11-12 gymnasium at 3 p.m. on Jan. 17, carting energy and stamina, as well as snacks and blankets, and enthusiastically embarked on an 18-hour Dance-A-Thon to benefit local victims of Lou Gehrig’s disease (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). Dubbed “Monzo Madness,” this year’s event raised $15,000 for the Greater Philadelphia chapter of the ALS Foundation, money that will be used to fund much-needed research and support for victims of the debilitating, motor neuron disease.
Donna Cleary, ALS Philadelphia’s director of development, was on hand to thank the students for their community outreach at the beginning of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, to applaud and encourage their efforts, and to accept the check from Interact advisors and Monzo Madness leaders April Renzetti and Kevin MacNamara, both of whom are special education teachers at WTHS. With the 2020 to donation, the school has donated more than $280,000 to the ALS Foundation since the fundraiser’s inception.