West Hartsville to host math competition

West Hartsville Elementary School will be gearing up for a St. Jude Math-A-Thon event on Dec. 1. Miley Cyrus and Chris Brown, two of America’s best known performers, star as hosts in Math-A-Thon videos to encourage students to participate in this program that helps raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the premier center for the research and treatment of childhood cancer and other deadly diseases.

The Hartsville community can sponsor students participating in the Math-A-Thon by pledging an amount-per-problem or a one-time donation.

“St. Jude is the leader in the fight against catastrophic childhood diseases such as leukemia, brain tumors and sickle cell disease,” said Bonnie L. Saleeby, coordinator of the event.

“Through events like this Math-A-Thon, West Hartsville Elementary will be supporting the St. Jude mission of finding cures and saving children across the country and around the world.”

A tradition for more than 30 years, Math-A-Thon is a supplemental math education program for grades K-8 that raises much needed funds for the research and treatment of childhood diseases at St. Jude.

Through programs such as these, the idea of St. Jude founder Danny Thomas to raise funds for the hospital through community-based events is able to continue.

Participating students receive a Funbook that is filled with math problems and puzzles. Students ask family and friends for pledges based on an amount-per-problem or a one-time donation. After students complete their Fun-books, they collect the pledges and donations from their sponsors, and all donations are sent to St. Jude.

For more information on how to host a Math-A-Thon event, call 1-800-FUNBOOK (386-2665) or visit http://www.mathathon.org.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases.

Founded by late entertainer Danny Thomas and based in Memphis, Tenn., St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world. No family ever pays for treatments not covered by insurance and families without insurance are never asked to pay. St. Jude is financially supported by ALSAC, its fundraising organization, through events such as Math-A-Thon. For more information, please visit http://www.stjude.org.