PSU students hold Mini-Mini THON for preschoolers
Toss some red, green, blue and yellow balloons in an open space of a large room and turn on upbeat music. Introduce a couple dozen preschoolers who can’t help but dance.
What you have is “Mini-Mini THON,” a young version of Penn State University’s annual IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon.
The children’s dance-a-thon was a way for Penn State Fayette students to get rolling on their fund-raising effort for the dance marathon that benefits the Four Diamonds Fund, which supports families of children with cancer.
“Kids Helping Kids” was the theme Monday, when the youngsters of the Cub’s Den Childcare Center at Penn State Fayette danced and played for an hour in the student lounge on campus. They raised $642 in pledges toward the collective fund-raising effort.
The big THON takes place each February, when students from all of the Penn State campuses converge on University Park to stay up and moving for 48 hours in an effort to earn the pledges they collected for months before.
The students raised $3.6 million overall last February for the Four Diamonds Fund. Penn State Fayette contributed $37,000.
“Forty-five thousand dollars is our goal overall. Of course, we want to raise more than that,” said Chad Long, the team’s advisor.
Long was recently hired as assistant to the director of student affairs at the campus. As such, he coordinates student activities. A May 2000 Penn State graduate, Long was a dancer in the February 1998 event and subsequently served as team chairman. This is the campus’ sixth consecutive year for participation.
“From being a dancer, chairman and alumni to advisor is so amazing and I’m so proud of these guys,” Long said.
The current team captain, Beth Tom, said her goal is “to get unity on the team and to remember that it’s for the kids. For all the fund-raising we do, that’s why we do it.”
Tom, a senior from Uniontown, has been involved with THON four years.
She said the team is excited about the effort that will send two dance couples to University Park for the February marathon. She said they had a good first fund-raiser on Oct. 25, when they spent time outside local businesses with collection cans, raising $2,900.
Team members on Sunday visited Penn State’s children’s hospital in Hershey, where the Four Diamonds Fund is used. The visit coincided with a “family carnival” and the students had an opportunity to meet some of the people who benefit from THON.
“There was one family there with eight children and no health insurance. Their daughter was suffering from cancer,” Long said. “The mother thanked us because THON money helped her.”
The students will do a variety of fund-raisers before they wrap up their efforts with a send off dinner the night before they head to University Park.
“They are energized as usual,” Campus Executive Officer Dr. Gregory Gray said of this year’s team.
“When I talk to people around the university and they ask me how Penn State Fayette can do so well, I say it’s because our students are organized.”
He said the team is also successful because they try different events like the Monday dance that helps heighten awareness in the community of what they are doing.
One of the fund-raisers that is new the past couple years is called “Mini THON.” Local high school students are invited to raise pledges and then stay on their feet for 10 hours.
Mini THON chairman Marlene Lytle, a junior from Belle Vernon, said schools are being contacted now and may sign up to participate Feb. 8 at the Uniontown Mall.
She and communications chairman Jen Bowers, a junior from Uniontown, said the dance-a-thon with the Cub’s Den students was a spin-off of the high school version.
“We do the 10-hour dance at the mall for high school students, so why not do a one-hour one with the kids at the (Cub’s Den)?” asked Lytle, who is working her third year with THON.
“They know there are kids that are sick and their mommies and daddies need help,” Bowers said.
Bowers is a work-study student at Cub’s Den. This is her first year to be involved with THON. She said she got interested because she wanted to help other people and support an organization focused on children.
The Mini-Mini THON ended with distribution of certificates for all the children who joined in and an announcement of their grand total. Most of the youngsters stuck with it throughout the hour, encouraged by Nittany Lion mascot Seth Myers, who is also the team’s advertising chairman. The lion danced, cheered, did a few cartwheels and even executed a flip.