MAKING EVERY DOLLAR COUNT
Mrs. Sisco’ s 3rd grade class poses for a photo with Lauren Hill, Director of Development at the Westmoreland County Food Bank, as the
PTO presents them with the check. First row, left to right: Sofia DaSilva Fuentes,
Gia Dasta, Renee Sisco( teacher), Caleb
Ramsey, Darwin Herring. Second row, left to right: Lauren Hill, Director of Development at the Westmoreland County
Food Bank, Natalie Conklin, Grace Kovalcin, Quinn Mihleder, Brianna Kash, Evelyn
Dochinez Third row, left to right: Charley Ferimer, Giada DelGrosso, Emelia Armstrong, Thomas Walsh,
Jordan Cheripka Fourth row, left to right: Finn McCullough,
Yusuf Sandhu, Walter Rosswog, Jude Ritchie Fifth row, left to right: Colin Wright, Ethan
Graham
MAKING EVERY DOLLAR COUNT
The Annual Turkey Cup Challenge
Mini Thon & Telethon Projects
Every holiday season, many student-led organizations come together to raise money for Four Diamonds, a charity dedicated to Pediatric Cancer research. This year, projects like door decorating contests, candy grams, and raffle baskets all raised funds to support those in need, and they led up to the Dec. 19 Telethon, where students televised their fundraising efforts live from YouTube.
11th graders, Lorenzo Azzolina and Elly Tometski, sold candy grams to fellow students during
December, 2025 to raise funds for the Mini Thon, with proceeds going to Conquering Childhood
Cancer initiatives.
Students at the Primary and Intermediate Schools participated in the Annual Turkey Cup Challenge, a friendly competition that rallies schools across Westmoreland County to raise donations that help fund holiday meals for families in need. Fully supported by the PTO, this event gives students an opportunity to participate in community service and learn about the spirit of giving at a young age every year.
This year, the Primary and Intermediate Schools raised more than $ 13,000 for the Westmoreland Food Bank. At the Primary School, Mrs. Mochan’ s 1st-grade class took home the Turkey Cup with an impressive $ 534.99 raised, which significantly contributed to the school’ s total of more than $ 7,000. At the Intermediate School, Mrs. Sisco’ s 3rd-grade class contributed to the Intermediate School’ s total of $ 5,896.73 by raising $ 670.71.
ranklin Regional FRANKLIN REGIONAL NEWS
Annual Holiday Help Program Supported 194 Children
Thanks to the generosity of families, staff, and local businesses, this year’ s FR Holiday Help program provided $ 125 in gift cards to 194 children, from birth through age 18.
The spirit of giving was seen by several FR staff members and community members as well as at each building:
• FR Primary School( FRPS): 63 families donated
• FR Intermediate School( FRIS): 56 families donated
• FR Middle School( FRMS): 32 families donated
• FR Senior High( FRSH): 15 families donated
In addition to these efforts, the FRMS community led a creative charge, boosting fundraising efforts through staff jeans days, open gym activities, and festive raffles while homerooms competed in a festive Grinch War and door decorating competitions.
In all, the combined efforts of parents, faculty / staff, and community partners raised more than $ 24,000 to uplift FR families in need this holiday season.
FRMS students Stella Baumann, Paisley Paronto, Kylee George, Aiden Rapp, Paul Yorio, and Camden Randolph pose with their door that they decorated for the Holiday Help Fundraiser.
15 Years of the Backpacks to Go Program
This school year, the Franklin Regional School District( FRSD) focused on increasing both financial and in kind donations to its Annual Back Packs to Go program. As of December of 2025, the program received $ 9,590.84 in monetary donations.
The FRSD Backpacks To Go Program was developed in 2010 to support FR students with no weekend access to the school breakfast and lunch program. Sponsored by the Franklin Regional community, including the Rotary, area businesses, PTO, teachers, families, and area friends, the program helps school counselors provide a bag filled with easy-to-prepare meals and snacks to students enrolled twice a month.
Each bag of food costs approximately $ 17 with high school students receiving monthly Shop n Save gift cards. Some of the items in the bags include peanut butter, tuna, mac and cheese, popcorn, oatmeal, pretzels, trail mix, ramen, fruit cups, granola bars, and applesauce.
Since the start of the 25 – 26 school year alone, the program has supported 76 students in grades K – 12, and 450 bags of food and 104 gift cards have been distributed. The Franklin Regional Backpacks to Go Program is an all volunteer run 501c3 organization. For more information, please visit frsdk12. org and click on the Backpack to Go Support link under the Family Resources tab.
MURRYSVILLE | WINTER 2026 31