Last semester, senior Katelynn Recklein started the Lemon Club to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer.

Since its inception, the club has more than tripled its membership.

“I was looking for a way to benefit something. I wanted to start a club that would have an impact. I looked for organizations that had chapters that weren’t on this campus, and I came across Alex’s Lemonade Stand,” said Recklein.

Recklein said that she had to go through Alex’s Lemonade Stand’s national group to charter the club and then she went through the Pitt-Johnstown student government to get it chartered on campus.

After that, Recklein said she had to find an adviser.

“I picked Kimberly Douglas as my adviser because I had her for English my freshman year, and I loved her. I also knew she was passionate about this kind of stuff, so she would be a perfect match for it,” said Recklein.

The club started out with nine members and has grown to 30 members this semester.

In order to raise money for research of childhood cancer cures and treatments, the club holds fundraisers on campus. The week of Oct. 31 club members held penny wars.

“For a penny war, we get well-known faculty members and professors to volunteer to be selected to wear a lemon suit. The way a penny war works is you donate loose change and dollars.

Pennies count positive(ly), silver coins and dollars count negative(ly) and it’s counted by quantity, not value. The person with the highest score at the end has to wear the lemon suit,” said Recklein.

The suit is a lemon costume, which Dominick DiLoreto, residence hall area coordinator, ended up wearing on Dec. 30 because he had the highest score.

The idea to hold a penny war came from Alex’s Lemonade Stand’s recommended fundraisers. Recklein said she put her own spin on it by having someone wear a lemon suit.

The penny wars consisted of six jars with the names Paul Lucas, Shawn Brooks and Dominick DiLoreto written on them. The other three were Sherrie Rae, Shaun Hemphill and Kimberly Douglas.

The table was close to the Student Union cafeteria entrance to get people while they had their wallets out, said Recklein.

The table had a large yellow sign that said ‘Lemon Club’ and had two club members sitting asking people as they walked by whether they wanted to donate.

Sophomore member Julia Adams sat at the table from 2 to 3 p.m.

“I think the penny wars are a great way to fundraise. They are fun and easy. Most college students have loose change on them anyway and the majority of the time are more than willing to donate it,” said Adams.

Adams said she thinks that a lot of students would get a good laugh seeing a faculty member or professor in a lemon suit.

Sophomore Keirstin Ward donated to the penny wars for a personal reason.

“One of my good friends from high school was diagnosed with leukemia in fifth grade and seeing how him and his family struggled makes me want to do anything I can to alleviate their burden,” said Ward.

Recklein said club members are always looking for new members.