You guys and your dance marathons just keep blowing us all away. One, because you know how to have a damn good time, and two, because you do it for all the right reasons.
By the end of the 46-hour dance marathon “THON,” presented by Penn State’s Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils, an amazing total of $9,770,332.32 had been raised for the Four Diamonds Fund to conquer childhood cancer. This followed last year’s total of over $13 million to make for a total contribution of about $137 million in the 39 years THON has been around.
This is much more than a 46-hour party, though. It takes a full year of planning and fundraising to pull this off, which usually involves canning. This is collecting spare change from drivers in cans at the risk of looking like a peasant all in the name of charity. Now, if you are from Pennsylvania like me, you have seen Penn State canners every year, and, if you’re a nice person like me, you shell out your entire cup holder of change for these people. However, you would have noticed a much smaller canning presence this year. Two canning weekends were cancelled after a tragic car accident killed Vitalya “Tally” Sepot, who was returning to Penn State after a weekend canning trip. In her memory, a part of THON was dedicated specifically to Tally.
Even in the face of adversity, the dance marathon still showed us all what true effort and care for the kids is capable of doing. THON had a total of 708 dancers for the 46-hour dancing extravaganza. I’m sure they were tired as hell and trying to scrape up what was left of their sanity by the end. However, Mailey, who danced in 2014, put it a little differently.
“Being on your feet for 46 hours isn’t easy, but it’s a representation of why we’re here. It’s in support of the kids and, it’s us standing up for them. It’s symbolic of so many of the journeys the children have gone through.”
All in all, I’m just so amazed by these people. They take tiny contributions, chump change if you will, and turn it into millions. Executive Director Katie Mailey said, “I hope people, and I think people, will take away that this is so much bigger than ourselves. When we reveal the number, it’s a culminating moment of the entire weekend, but I think people should take out of it that, that number is so much more than millions of dollars. It’s a representation of the hours we put into it and the love and support we have for the families.”
WE ARE… PENN STATE! (Or at least we wish we were.).
[via Centre Daily Times]
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