CLARKS SUMMIT — As students in the Abington Heights School District look forward to a Monday with no school on April 18 (a scheduled Act 80 in-service day for the teachers), one Abington Heights Middle School student, Nina Sampogne, is planning something big for her day off.
The eighth grader and Miss Luzerne County’s Outstanding Teen will host a fundraiser for Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the State Street Grill. The event will feature food, cocktails, basket raffles and giveaways. There is no cover charge, and the restaurant will donate 10 percent of its proceeds from the entire day to CMN.
“It’s a great cause, and we like to help out,” said business owner Tom Hill.
He added the fundraiser gives the restaurant a good opportunity to give back to the community and express gratitude for its customers.
For Sampogne, the fundraiser is not only an opportunity to fulfill a Miss Luzerne County title requirement, but also a way of saying thank you for the care she received as a child at the Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville, a CMN hospital.
“They gave to me and I wanted to give back to them,” she said.
CMN, according to its website, exists to “increase funds and awareness for local children’s hospitals.”
“Since 1983, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals has raised more than $5 billion — most of it $1 at a time — for 170 children’s hospitals across the United States and Canada, which, in turn, use the money where it’s needed the most,” reads the web page. “These donations have gone to support research and training, purchase equipment, and pay for uncompensated care, all to save and improve the lives of as many children as possible.”
For more information about the fundraiser, contact Laura Sampogne at lvsampogne@aol.com.
