Shorewood High School Students Donate More Than $72,000 To MACC Fund

SHOREWOOD - This year's Shorewood Games fundraiser was a record-breaking one, as students of Shorewood High School raised $72,260 for the MACC Fund.

The Shorewood Games has been held every four years and was inspired in 1987 after students wanted to honor fellow SHS student Gus Rich, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Rich, whose son attends SHS, survived his lymphoma diagnosis and spoke at the ceremony, thanking students for their hard work to beat childhood cancer.

Students raised $10,000 at the inaugural celebration in 1987, hoping to someday amass a total of $400,000 raised for the MACC Fund. The total raised over the years from reached $325,000 during the last Shorewood Games fundraiser and on the 30th anniversary of the original event this year, students hoped to fulfill that dream of $400,000. Though they fell short of their goal by about $3,000, they far surpassed the previous record of $56,000 in one year.

According to North Shore Now, students raised money throughout the year but the biggest push came in recent weeks with a pasta dinner, pancake breakfast, bachelor competition, and sports competitions during lunch hour. To help up those donation totals, students engaged in a bit of friendly competition for a good cause, with the seniors winning for raising the most money.

The cause is a personal one for the top donors, who have family members affected by cancer. Several students donated their hair through the Buzz Cuts for Cancer event, spearheaded by SHS principal Tim Kenney, who was the second-highest fundraiser at $3,600. Kenney's brother-in-law succumbed to brain cancer six years ago at 31.

Top donor Jan Zehren, a gym teacher at Shorewood Intermediate School, planned to raise $2,000 but upped her donation significantly after her brother passed away four weeks ago. Zehren raised more than $4,000 with the help of middle school students during a last-minute fundraiser at Sendik's in Whitefish Bay.