THON Season Has Begun

By: Amanda Dickert

As football season is in full swing, the THON fundraising season began on October 1st.   With fundraising comes all the excitement of raising money to beat last year’s phenomenal total of $7,409,133.87.  That is a tough task that only the students of Penn State can accomplish.  Although, the 46-hour dance marathon for pediatric cancer in February seems quite far away, there is no time to waste.  On October 23, 2009, the first canning weekend began.  This means that the dedicated students left University Park and went to various cities and states to stand outside and raise money for the kids.  As a member of Delta Sigma Pi, I devoted my weekend to standing at an intersection.  Other members and I faired all weather with a downpour on Saturday afternoon.  We stood outside and dealt with people that are generous and appreciative or with people that ignore the fact that you are standing right outside their window.  The energy and fact that you are doing something so unbelievably good gets you through the discouragement from some.  After this weekend, my organization earned our first dollars toward beating out total from THON 2009.  Seeing the official numbers makes the whole weekend worth it.

This past Sunday, November 1st marked the ninth annual THON 5K.  Thousands of students gathered together to run 3.1 miles for pediatric cancer.  On such a beautiful day, it was perfect to travel around the campus.  All along the way there were moralers encouraging runners to continue with the race.  The THON children showed their stuff during the kid’s race and it was just more of a reason to make the trek for these kids. 

With the THON season underway and as the 100-day countdown approaches, it is never too late to get involved.  It is more rewarding than you can ever know and the kids and their families never forget all that you did.  For more information on how to get involved with THON, visit http://www.thon.org.