Notre Dame Academy’s second largest fundraiser, Phone-a-Thon, is just around the corner and will be headed by a new coordinator, Mrs.Claire Teitz.

In her fourth year at Notre Dame, Teitz has taken on the new role of Advancement Services Specialist, which takes care of the technical side of fundraising for NDA.

“I have enjoyed taking responsibility for Phone-a-Thon, which is one of our greatest school-wide fundraisers for tuition assistance,” Teitz said.

The preparation that goes into making the Phone-a-Thon so successful is what Teitz takes care of behind the scenes.

She starts by soliciting volunteers from clubs, sports and the student body, creates the calling schedule, makes up the list of 7,000-8,000 donors to call, creates the call sheets and attends all student-calling sessions.

Usually about 150-200 students end up volunteering at some point during the course of Phone-a-Thon.

Some of the sports and clubs that volunteer annually are boys and girls soccer, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls golf, cross country, ASTRA, Sting Cancer and many more.

Notre Dame senior Jackson T. Martin is one of the many students who volunteers for Phone-a-Thon.

“My favorite part of Phone-a-Thon would have to be the competition aspect of the fundraiser. After awhile it becomes fun to see who raises the most money and where the donations are coming from,” Martin said.

Martin attends at least one calling session a week if not more due to the extra help needed.

He has fun while calling and encourages anybody who is interested in Phone-a-Thon to help out because it is such a critical fundraiser for Notre Dame.

“There is no question that it is as successful as it is because of the wonderful student volunteers that we get,” Teitz said. “They work really hard, have fun and are really a joy to work with.”

This year the NDA budget calls for the fundraiser to make $145,000 which is doable considering Phone-a-Thon hits its goals each year.

“Since the students make all of the calls, we wouldn’t raise a dollar without them and their dedication,” Teitz said.

The NDA Phone-a-Thon runs weekly starting at the beginning of October to mid-November.