On Sunday, Feb. 20, 16 Bethlehem Catholic seniors and a few juniors arrived at the school in the early afternoon prepared for a long night. The seniors are members of The Movement, Bethlehem Catholic’s philanthropic organization whose goal is to engage the student body to help local charities meet their goals.

At 7 p.m., over 100 more students began registering for the annual Lock-In, which would take place over a 12-hour time window from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. the following morning. Over the course of the night, the students would eat three meals, do yoga, dance to music in the dark with glow sticks during “glow hour,” sing karaoke and write letters to children with cancer on behalf of the student body.

All the events were run by members of The Movement. This year’s theme was “Change Is Sweet,” and accordingly, if you walked into the building during the time of the Lock-In, you might see a Candyland-esque flood of decorations. Students enjoyed vying to be chosen by The Movement’s Morale Committee as the “sweet person of the hour” and receiving a bag of candy to take home with them after the event.

At 7:30 a.m. Monday morning, the students gathered in the auditorium to meet the person who the proceeds from the event would go to: Janelle Massey. A Bethlehem Catholic alumnus herself, she is the founder of an organization called Sassy Massey Smiles Foundation that brings “miles of smiles” to children in hospitals by buying and sending toys for them to play with.

The foundation was begun in honor of Janelle’s daughter, Jillian Massey, who passed away at age 4 from disseminated high-risk medulloblastoma. Before her passing, Jillian told her parents that she wanted to bring toys to children just like her. She helped start her first vision of the Sassy Massey Smiles Foundation by delivering over 3,000 toys that had been donated through an Amazon wish list in December 2016. Now, her mother’s wish is to carry on Jillian’s mission.

In the Bethlehem Catholic auditorium, Janelle Massey told the students her daughter’s story and proceeded to show a video of Jillian’s wish in action that showed a young boy receiving an iPad from the foundation just a few weeks earlier. Afterwards, The Movement co-chairs Hannah DiLello and Ella Trunzo presented her with the check of the total donation the student body would make to the foundation: a staggering

$20,000. Later, Trunzo said, “Handing Janelle Massey the $20,000 check for the Sassy Massey Smiles Foundation was the most rewarding experience. I am beyond grateful for The Movement and our efforts. This is something I will never forget.”

On a similar note, DiLello agreed, “It was a great experience to be able to run the Lock-In this year with Ella and the other kids in our class. I will cherish forever the memories and all that I learned through planning this event. All of the hours we put into this were so worth it when we were able to hand our check to the Sassy Massey foundation.”

The Movement would like to especially thank Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, St. Anne’s Church and St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Church for allowing them to speak about and collect money for the cause from parishioners after masses. Special thanks also goes out to Joao and Bradley Construction Co. for donating the DJ as well as Heart of a Legend Foundation. Finally, the event would not have been possible without the help of Becahi teacher Stephen Tomaszewski, who oversees The Movement, and the entire Bethlehem Catholic administration’s support.