Hempfield High School Mini-THON will host Cookies With Santa on Sunday, Dec. 18, at Salem United Church of Christ, 2312 Marietta Ave., Lancaster, from 2 to 4 p.m. The holiday fundraising event will have a set price per child and feature festive activities for children and their parents. There will be no fee for parents and legal guardians attending with their children.

During the event, children will have an opportunity to take a picture with Santa, enjoy hot cocoa, decorate their own sugar cookies and assemble a holiday craft. This is the first year that the Mini-THON program will host a holiday fundraiser, and Mini-THON adviser Kelly Parker hopes to make Cookies With Santa a yearly event.

Hempfield student volunteers who are involved with Mini-THON will assist with the event's activities with the hope of helping to garner funds toward Mini-THON's fundraising goal of $58,000. "We function as a club outside of the school day. We have students on the leadership team and open our general committee up to anyone who wants to be involved," said Parker.

Hempfield Mini-THON and its members work year-round to raise money for PennState Health's Four Diamonds fund through a variety of fundraisers, culminating in its biggest event at Hempfield High School in April. During the event, participating students' goal is to stay active through different activities for up to five hours. Students in the past have held dodgeball tournaments, participated in activities with inflatables, played extreme musical chairs and danced in between. If this year's goal is met, Hempfield Mini-THON will have raised a total of $1 million since the program's inception.

Parker, who is also a teacher at East Petersburg Elementary, helped start Mini-THON at Hempfield in 2009 while she attended the school as a senior. "Mini-THON is not only a great cause to work with, but it gives our students an opportunity to give back to the community," Parker said. "This year we're looking at doing some different activities to encourage people to get involved and raise money."

Four Diamonds was created to assist families that have children being treated for cancer at Penn State Health Children's hospital, as well as to help fund research for a cure and treatment of childhood cancer. The money raised covers families' medical bills so that parents can focus on supporting their children instead of managing financial burdens.

Hempfield MiniT-HON is offering sponsorships to local businesses to assist with its goal; sponsoring organizations will be featured on the yearly Mini-THON T-shirt and receive a shoutout on social media. To become a sponsor, contact Parker at kelly_parker@hempfieldsd.org.