Reynolds Remembered at Hen Hud’s Annual Stay Awake A Thon
Just days after the death of its biggest fundraiser, the Hendrick Hudson community came together to fight cancer at its annual Stay Awake A Thon fundraiser.
The event, held annually at Hendrick Hudson High School in Montrose since 2008, is a 12-hour endurance test and fundraiser. From 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., hundreds of community members crowd the high school and participate in games, listen to bands perform, watch dance groups and light luminaries to symbolize those who’ve lost their battles with cancer.
The Stay Awake A Thon is “a life-affirming journey through a day in the life of someone fighting cancer,” said the event’s founder Debbie Costello.
The fundraiser took on added emotional depth this year following the Wednesday death of Don Reynolds, who had been fighting pancreatic cancer since February 2011 and had raised $65500 for the event last year.
Stephanie Porteus of Somers, a member of “Team Don Reynolds,” said it’s important to keep her friend’s memory alive by continuing to dedicate time to the cause he believed in so strongly.
“He was fighting until the end. He wanted to come tonight to the survivors’ dinner if he felt strong enough,” she said. “We just have to continue to fight. It was really important to him, because it gives back to the community.”
Team Don Reynolds has raised about $6,500 this year.
Ossining resident Steve DeName, another friend of the late Reynolds, said the Stay Awake A Thon is a worthwhile event because the charity dollars are distributed locally.
“It’s not just for the Dons of the world,” DeName said. “It’s for everybody because it really stays local.”
This year’s money will go toward the newly opened cancer center at the Hudson Valley Hospital Center in Cortlandt Manor and Happiness is Camping, a free camp for children with cancer located in Hardwick, N.J.
The event formally kicked off at 7 p.m. Saturday with an opening ceremony emceed by WHUD radio personality Kacey Morabito, a 1979 Hendrick Hudson High School alumna.
Morabito told a packed gymnasium that the Stay Awake A Thon had raised more than $200,000 since 2008 “for cancer research and organizations that provide hope, love and support for individuals and their families.”
A Hendrick Hudson High School student-athlete then sang an emotional ballad called “Never Alone,” prompting Morabito to reflect on the value of community.
“That’s what tonight is all about — community,” she said. “And when you come from a community as great as this, you’re never alone.”
Brian Kenny, 18, a University of Pittsburgh freshman, told the crowd of his experience being diagnosed with brain cancer last year as a 17-year-old Hendrick Hudson senior.
He said the Stay Awake A Thon, which he attended in the throes of his cancer treatment, provided a much-needed boost of morale and support.
“When you’re 17, you don’t really have anyone who’s gone through what you have. I just felt like I was alone,” he said. “When I was going through this, I didn’t have the energy to fight, but my peers gave me that strength.”
After Kenny’s remarks, about a dozen cancer survivors — from women in their sixties to a ten-year-old boy — lined up under a balloon arch. Their caregivers and fundraising teams lined up behind them and the whole group paraded out of the gymnasium.
Addressing the crowd at the start of the 12-hour event, Costello said the power of the Stay Awake A Thon is that it allows cancer patients and survivors to draw from the warmth and strength of the greater Hendrick Hudson community.
“We’re all here for the same reason, which is to find an end for cancer,” she said. “They have a disease that never sleeps, and that’s why we stay up all night to support them.”
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
