Franklin Regional's annual telethon benefits UPMC Children's Hospital Free Care Fund

It’s always busy during a class change at Franklin Regional Senior High School, but on Friday the hallways were especially jam-packed, as students and staff put on the school’s annual telethon fundraiser.

Student organizations lined the hallway walls as media production students shot live segments outside the auditorium. Onstage, students from teacher Denielle DeSantis’ Franklin Regional Fashion Club modeled holiday-themed outfits they designed.

Even the administration was in the holiday spirit, with special education director Richard Regelski dressed as Will Ferrell’s classic character Buddy the Elf.

This year’s telethon will benefit the UPMC Children’s Hospital Free Care Fund, and telethon organizers shot segments with four Franklin Regional families who have benefited from the fund to drive home the importance of donating.

Over the years, students have raised more than $139,000 for groups ranging from the Westmoreland County Food Bank to Blountstown High School in Florida, which was heavily damaged by Hurricane Michael in 2018.

Where other school districts fundraise over an extended period of time, the window for Franklin Regional students is much smaller.

“We basically have the month of December to do our fundraising,” Magness said.

Her media production students take the helm for the live broadcast, the first such experience for some.

“We do a ‘live taping’ of our morning news program but, if we mess something up, we can always go back and re-record it,” Magness said of the daily school broadcast. “But (for the live telethon, students are) working a soundboard, they’re working the cameras, they’re working off a script and they have to know the time that everything is happening.”