People came together Saturday at the Skeet Club Grove Pavilion in Slatington to raise money for a local boy diagnosed with pediatric cancer.

Crusade 4 Hope aims to bring the community together to spread awareness regarding local children diagnosed with pediatric cancer. All proceeds from the event go toward providing the families with financial assistance during such a difficult time.

Each year, a different child is chosen by the charity for the Crusade 4 Hope charity event to benefit. For this year’s event, all of the proceeds will go toward the family of 4-year-old Luke Schillinger of the New Tripoli area who suffers from a brain tumor.

The event involved food, drinks, raffles, a chance auction, a bounce house for the children and live music performed by the bands The Acoustic Groove Trio, Beautiful Disaster and Whiskey Hollow.

Attendees could also participate in a motorcycle and classic car run. The drive ran for about an hour, with the route going along Mountain Road in Slatington, Route 248, Route 895, Route 309 and then circling back to Mountain Road.

One of the drivers at the event was New Tripoli resident and event volunteer Ed Reiter who drove his electric blue 1971 Plymouth Roadrunner. Reiter said he has owned his car since 1977 and that it had been stored away for 18 years until he had decided to restore it.

Regarding the Schillinger family, Reiter said that he knew the family for a number of years and that it was great to see the community come together and support them during this time.

One of the other attendees at the event was Tim Gilbert who had come to the event from Whitehall with his wife, Pat Gilbert, and friend Pat Mc­Keone.

Tim Gilbert noted that they had been attending the event for the past three years after finding out about it originally from one of the organizers.

He described it as being a “good cause” and said that he enjoyed all of the festivities the event had to offer including the chance auction and the food.

He concluded by admiring the fact that so many people within the community came together to make the event possible.

“It’s so nice that there are so many people that took the time to come out and donate stuff and support this organization,” Gilbert said.

Founder Joe Madar explained that the event has been taking place for the past 14 years every September, during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Madar talked about the heartbreak induced by pediatric cancer which led him to found the Crusade 4 Hope event in the first place.

“The world can change in a heartbeat. It’s unfortunate,” said Madar. “Children are just God’s little angels and it just breaks my heart to see a little, innocent child have something like that.”

Madar said he was thankful for the help of so many people who made an event of this magnitude possible every year.

The pig for the event’s pig roast was donated by a friend, the bands playing at the event made donations and the Skeet Club was gracious in letting the charity use the pavilion for the venue.

“So many people help make it work. And all the volunteers are friends and family, it just really amazes me. The effort that they help out with is really great. I’m blessed,” Madar said.

To keep up to date with Crusade 4 Hope, visit www.facebook.com/crusade4hope.

To make a donation benefiting Luke Schillinger and his family, visit crusade4hope.org.