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History of the St.
Charles Drill Team
“Kick-A-Thon”
In the summer of 1994 the inception of the “KICK-A-THON” concept was
created. Around the kitchen table of Lynn Funk (co-booster
president), the original committee of Lynn, Pat Pretz, Julie Wheeler and the coaches Jill
Murphy and
Kari Batka the STC KICK-A-THON was born. In the beginning, our
energy was
focused on raising funds for the drill team, “our girls”! They are
amazing
young ladies, with great talent who came from terrific families of
the community
of St. Charles. The idea was to pledge money “per kick” as we showed
off our
talent of high kicking. In an attempt to make it more original, why
not add “amateurs” to kick with us. Perhaps teachers, parents, community
members and
local business individuals could “team” with us. Wouldn’t THAT BE
FUNNY!
SO…….we moved forward and each girl (with much help from our
boosters, their parents) communicated and “partnered” with someone from the
St. Charles
community to create our 1st Kick-A-Thon. The event took place in the
fall of
1994. It went REALLY WELL! Not only was it FUN but we made much MORE
money than
we needed. In an effort to give back and serve the community of St.
Charles
we were looking for a “partner” or an organization to make a
contribution
to. “What about American Cancer Society”?, said Buck Drach, the
coach of the
Fighting Saints football team at that time. “We have just started
the Tri-City
Relay for Life (now known as Kane County Relay) here at the high
school.
Cancer has a huge impact on individuals, their loved ones and
families”, he
said.
Great idea we thought, and a “partnership” was formed. At that time
Rose
Drach, Buck’s wife, was battling a rare form of sinus cancer. Rose
was a
special education teacher at St. Charles High School at the time and
a truly
amazing woman who embodied such a true fighting saints’ spirit. For
many of us, our
involvement became a personal act of support for her! Rose passed
away in
the fall of 1999, but her spirit lives on through this event. This
story is the
original, but the people who have participated in this special event
through
the years can share their own stories of the amazing positive that
can come
of a disease that can be so devastating.
In the past 15 years, beginning in 1994, the event grows larger and
larger,
more meaningful and more organized due to the hard work of the St.
Charles
Drill Team boosters of both the STC East and STC North High Schools.
The “teaming” concept that combines these two friendly rivals has only
strengthened
this event through the years. Last year we collectively donated over
$73,000.00
to the Tri- City ACS and Living Well Cancer Resource Center. In the
past years, the teams also
made
contributions to other cancer related organizations such as the
Treasure Chest, Hope Street Kids and Fox Valley Hospice.
The relationship between the St. Charles community kickers,
donators,
faculties of the schools, the American Cancer Society and now other
related cancer
organizations is special. We look forward to organizing the
kick-a-thon every
year and seeing old friends as well as making new ones. Hope to see
you at
our 15TH ANNUAL Kick-A-Thon on Friday, October 17th, 2008 @ STC
North High
School, Saints host the Saint in the Cross Town
Classic football
game.
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