BPHS teachers donate Jeans Friday money to Grady’s All-Stars

Tyler Thomas, Staff Writer

May 22, 2013

This past Jeans Friday, the Bethel Park High School teachers and staff raised $841 for Grady’s All-Stars, a trust set up to raise money for two brothers with Late Infantile Batten Disease.

Brothers Drew and Trent Grady, ages 8 and 5 respectively, both have been diagnosed with Late Infantile Batten Disease. Batten Disease is characterized by vision problems, seizures, clumsiness, poor circulation, spine curvature, and hyperventilation.

Donations will be used to buy medical equipment and medical care for the brothers. Most of the money will be used to buy a wheelchair accessible van.

BPHS teacher Mr. Vic came up with the idea of using the Jeans Friday donations for Grady’s All-Stars after receiving an email from Tyann Neal, who he knows through his children’s sports teams. Neal sent an email to the parents of children on the team about Grady’s All-Stars.

“I contacted Dr. J, and he said ‘of course’,” Mr. Vic said, regarding the donation.

Mr. Vic said that usually teachers donate anywhere from $1 to $5 dollars on Jeans Fridays, but many donated over $20 to Grady’s All Stars because “the story touched a lot of people.”

To donate, lottery tickets can be purchased for $20 as a form of donation, with a chance of winning $10,000. 1,000 tickets are available and the winning number will be based on the July 4th winning lottery number.

For more information on the Grady Family and the diagnosis of the brothers, or to donate to this great cause, please visit http://www.gradysallstars.org/.

For more information regarding lottery tickets, please contact [email protected].

In related news, Jeans Friday money collected on February 15th and 22nd was donated to the Multiple Sclerosis Society, and Jeans Friday money from April 5th and April 12th was donated to the Koch Family (Charlie and Blair, BPHS graduates), who suffered the lost of belongings when their Oakland apartment caught fire.

About the Contributor

Tyler Thomas, Staff Writer

Imagine this, an honor roll student who actively participates in school clubs/sports. Believe it or not, there's a name for a student of this caliber, Tyler Thomas. He is a senior at Bethel Park High School; he is an active member in journalism and chess club to be specific. The chief of justice himself, John Allemang, carefully handpicked students with special writing abilities one-by-one. For that reason, Tyler believes it is an honor to be recruited into such a perfect, well-rounded/boss club such as Hawk Eye, the online student newspaper. Other than afterschool activities, Tyler enjoys playing Halo Reach, listening to rap music, eating Subway, and hanging out with friends. Also, he participates in pickup sports games outside of school with his peers. Tyler manages to do all of this and still maintain a 4.0, while taking a plethora of advanced placement classes. To the naked eye, Tyler's resume seems mind-blowing, but quite frankly it's probably one of the best in Bethel Park. For the truth's sake, I can verify the fact that Tyler truly does commit to all of these activities; reason being, I'm there more than 90% of the time with him. It's good to have a best friend with the qualities that Tyler has. Outside of myself and our close friends, I wouldn't doubt Tyler setting a positive example, in other words, being a good role model to look up to. Written by: Gino Johnson, Staff Writer