Nadder Nejad raised $109,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Motivating his fundraising efforts is a personal connection to the cause.

"I lost my grandma to cancer. I lost my aunt to cancer. So that got me kind of thinking about it and starting," Nejad said.

The Whitehall resident was named the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Man of the Year. He was selected from a field of 12 candidates involved in a 10-week fundraising event.

The society has been giving these awards for the past six years. They go to candidates who raise the most funds for the organization in a given year. In 2014, a total of $290,000 was raised with Nejad raising $109,000 alone. Both of these numbers were record breaking.

"The $109,000 was the most ever [raised] by an individual, and then the $290,000 was the most ever [raised] for the Lehigh Valley Chapter," he said.

In order to become a candidate, an individual raises as much money as possible through various fundraisers, individual and company donations, auctions and other community events.

"I did a lot of social media using Facebook," he said. "I did a fundraiser at a pub in Easton, so we did a celebrity bartending there, which was awesome. It raised a lot of money."

Celebrity bartending is a fundraising event where the "celebrity" is the person who doesn't usually bartend.

Nejad also organized a silent auction. In addition, he received four March Madness in New York tickets from a donor and he auctioned them off, raising almost $3,000.

When Nejad's not helping raise thousands of dollars to fight leukemia and lymphoma, he is the general manager of Major Hyundai in Stroudsburg, which was also a big sponsor for the campaign.

Nejad has been volunteering for the society for two years. His business partner nominated him as a candidate for 2014.

Nejad also had the opportunity to meet a few people diagnosed with leukemia and lymphoma.

"Some of the stories that you hear, it just changes you. You realize you're lucky when you actually start talking to people and realizing what [they] have to go through. It's just brutal," he said.

Nejad is happy to have been involved with the society and doing fundraising.

"It was the best thing I ever did," he said.