Thirty hours of staying awake can make for a long day, especially when stuck in a tight space with 200 other people.
But Lindsey Johnson, organizer of the first wakeathon at St. Albert Catholic High School, said there’s going to be a lot of food and entertainment to keep people awake.
The fundraiser –running from Thursday until Friday – is collecting money for The Roots of Change Foundation to build a community centre in Nicaragua.
But Johnson said it’s also geared to bring the school closer together.
“We just wanted to do something really big and for me I always wanted to do a wakeathon,” she said.
“Nobody has ever taken on the task of organizing a wakeathon and I wanted to be part of that process.”
The Roots of Change Foundation is a St. Albert based, non-governmental organization that works toward improving the quality of life for Nicaraguan people living in poverty.
Johnson said she decided to put money toward the cause after one of her teachers told her about the foundation.
“Not much money is taken off the top for administration and it just seemed like a good cause to go forward with,” she said.
“They have a sister organization in Nicaragua and they say we need this to be built and then they bring that back to The Roots of Change and they try to find the money.”
Johnson is no newcomer to fundraising.
After a Rotary Leadership Camp in 2012, she started Interact, Rotary’s high school chapter at St. Albert High, and ran a fundraiser that brought in $2,300 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
But the wakeathon is the largest event the Grade 12 student has taken on so far.
Every participant had to raise at least $100 in advance to participate in the event. Johnson said there are 200 participants, though almost 300 signed up.
The event will run from 8 a.m. on Thursday until 2 p.m. on Friday. Anyone wanting to donate to the cause can stop by at the school’s community entrance.
