As the new school year kicks off, University of New Mexico senior Kasey Lenning is preparing for a year of fundraising and outreach as the new executive director of LoboTHON, UNM’s largest student-run philanthropy organization.
Throughout the year,LoboTHON raises funds for UNM Children’s Hospital which culminates in a 31-hour dance marathon for students, patients and families to unwind and connect the year’s efforts in a final fundraising push.
Lenning, an international studies and economics major with minors in Spanish and sustainability studies, was selected as executive director after three years of work with LoboTHON, having served as a committee member, fundraising events chair and finance director. Lenning is also involved with the Pathmakers program in the Honors College, the Mortar Board Senior Honors Society and the Global Education Office, where she works as a social activities coordinator.
Lenning first became involved with LoboTHON as a freshman after connecting with an organizer of Dance Marathon who reached out to her to ask her to join her committee. The community was a large part of what drew her to the organization.
“It was a way to learn about Albuquerque, to learn about the UNM campus as a whole and to meet awesome people that were also interested in LoboTHON … It seemed different than a lot of things on campus,” Lenning said.
As executive director, Lenning is in charge of organizing LoboTHON’s various directors and committee members: 25-30 people most years, according to 2021-2022 executive director Gabbi O’Keefe. The executive director is also in charge of making sure everything runs smoothly — marketing, outreach, filling gaps and the fundraising itself.
Lenning’s dedication both to LoboTHON and her other responsibilities, as well as her skills with detail and organization, made her a prime fit for the position, according to O’Keefe.
“She’s always been incredibly determined and really good at time management. What stuck out to me when I was executive director and she was finance director … She was really good at keeping people calm. She would always calm me down, help me think through stuff … She’s really good at setting aside emotions and being worried and being stressed and just attacking a problem and finding the best solutions,” O’Keefe said.
Lenning plans to use her position to increase LoboTHON’s notoriety on campus back to pre-pandemic levels in order to drive more student engagement as well as fundraising.
“Pre-pandemic LoboTHON was a lot more of a household name on campus. We did a lot more in-person events and it was a thing people really wanted to be a part of… One of my biggest goals is to re-engage and continue to engage the UNM community to rally around our cause,” Lenning said.
Though the office is stressful and requires a great deal of care, O’Keefe encouraged Lenning to take the time to enjoy the process and the weight of the change LoboTHON is making for the children.
“It was hard for me at some times to set the stress aside and enjoy it … It’s really hard to just enjoy it and not be thinking of every million things at the same time. That would be my advice: to enjoy the process and soak in the gravity of what you’re doing,” O’Keefe said.
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Lenning has’s learned the resilience the position requires from the past executive directors, including O’Keefe.
“At the end of the day, when we raise that total in March, it’s all worth it. The biggest thing that I take with me from them is it’s okay to struggle. But the most important thing is to be resilient and keep fighting for those children—the cause is so much bigger than myself or any individual … Keep fighting, and at the end of the day, it’ll all be worth it,” Lenning said.
Registration and fundraising efforts for the new year have begun again. Students interested in joining LoboTHON or assisting in any way can find more information on their website.
Spenser Willden is the culture editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @spenserwillden
