The event, which started with the goal of selling 300 hoagies, sold 6,000 last year, and the bar has been set this year at 7,500. To date, over $500,000 has been raised.
As the baby in his family, Kevin Andreas always used to get teased by his three older brothers about the special treatment he received from their mother Susan.
They came up with a phrase for it: "Everything for Kevin" is something they'd say over and over, even singing it to him at times.
Those three words took on deeper meaning last year when Kevin, a student at Washington Township High School, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May. He ended up spending 77 days at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and underwent three rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
Though he never asked for it, Kevin became the center of attention again throughout his ordeal, drawing support from his fellow students, teachers and other people in the community. His brothers formed a team called, appropriately, "Everything for Kevin" to participate in the National Brain Tumor Society's Race for Hope in Philadelphia in November.
All of the compassion has had a positive effect on Kevin and his family, who received the best news possible earlier this month.
"On Jan. 5, he had his second clear MRI; there's no evidence of tumor," Susan Andreas said. "There's a little bit of swelling which is making him very tired, so he's not back to school yet. But other than that he's doing very well."
And support continues to pile in for the family. To help defray some of the costs associated with his treatment, Kevin has been named one of the recipients of this year's Washington Township Helping Hands Hoagie Sale on Super Bowl Sunday.
"Kevin is just so grateful for everything," said Susan Andreas, a lifelong township resident who works at Whitman Elementary School. "This whole town and school district have just been amazing, along with our relatives, friends and neighbors. It's a little overwhelming with how much they've done."
The Helping Hands Hoagie Sale, created by a group of Washington Township teachers, has been helping local families like the Andreas' for the last 21 years. It's evolved into a massive undertaking, and as organizer Ron Lucarini puts it, the event is about so much more "than just selling a hoagie."
"Matt Lyons, the former mayor, once dubbed it one of the signature events of Washington Township," said Lucarini, who organizes the hoagie sale through his wife's charity, the COW (Changing Our World) Project. "It really is a big thing that brings the community together. In the beginning it was about teaching kids to do some real community service, but now there are so many different levels involved."
The event, which started with the goal of selling 300 hoagies, sold 6,000 last year, and the bar has been set this year at 7,500. To date, over $500,000 has been raised.
Hundreds of middle school students volunteer each year to make the hoagies, starting at 6 a.m. on Super Bowl Sunday at Orchard Valley Middle School. Older kids also participate at the high school, where pre-ordered hoagies are picked up later that day.
"These kids are working hard and they're learning through the experience," Lucarini said. "They are there to work, not to play, and they have a responsibility."
More high school volunteers, mostly student athletes, sell hoagies at remote sites throughout town to generate additional sales. That practice started about 10 years ago under the direction of Charlie Doud.
"We send them out to locations such as the churches and busy intersections," said Doud, who expects to have enough kids to work at 14 different sites this year. "Obviously, selling more hoagies is fantastic. But it's an equally important concept to get these kids involved in a greater cause. They all get the concept of being together with their teammates to do something that's going to help the community and help some kids who are sick."
Neighboring schools such as Williamstown and Kingsway have followed township's lead and joined the endeavor with remote sites of their own. Woodbury is also hoping to participate this year.
The pro teams get involved as well, as the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders are a frequent guest the day of the sale, and former Eagles wide receiver Vince Papale will visit several schools in town leading up to the event.
"I think the plan is to have him go to all the schools and rally all the kids and get them excited," said former school board member Tiffany Orihel, who helped finalize Papale's involvement. "He's going to sign some autographs and talk about doing good in the community."
As for the hoagies themselves, they are two-foot sandwiches -- including Italian, turkey and cheese -- and are offered for $10. Hoagie trays that feed about 10 people are also available for $50. Lucarini encourages people to order ahead of time through thecowproject.org or by contacting Maddy LaVoe at Orchard Valley Middle School at (856) 582-5353, ext. 5709 or mlavoe@wtps.org.
In addition to Andreas, about six or seven other local residents will be recipients, including Orchard Valley teacher Travis Martin, who is battling a rare neurological disease and is on leave this year.
"Most of the money goes to people who have had a problem as a result of a medical issue and the expenses related to that," Lucarini said. "We always keep money in the COW account afterwards for things that happen during the course of the year. It's not just for this month and that's it. We're helping people all the time."
Kevin Andreas is hoping to attend this year's event if he's feeling up to it. The junior is currently on homebound instruction, but the plan is for him to go back to school on Feb. 1 for the start of the third marking period.
His mom said Kevin is excited to get back with his friends and continue his studies. Eventually he'd like to become a neurologist, a goal that was strengthened by his experiences over the last year.
"Kevin's outlook is that he thinks this happened because he's going to become the greatest pediatric neurologist in the country," Susan Andreas said. "He thinks everything happened for a reason.
"Not one second of one day has he felt sorry for himself. ... He's just been so positive and has been helping other kids out at CHOP. All the nurses and doctors have told us there is not one person there who has met him who will ever forget him."