THON: Fighting pediatric cancer

When I was an undergraduate student at Penn State, I became involved in the Penn State Dance Marathon.



THON, as we called it, is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. During my senior year, 80,000 Penn State students raised $4.1 million for The Four Diamonds Fund, an organization run out of the Penn State Children's Hospital at Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pa. that supports children with cancer and their families. Since 1977, THON has raised more than $52 million for The Four Diamonds Fund.

This year, some New York City Penn Staters got together to organize the first annual Hope Gala, It's Up to You New York!. The event is being held this coming Friday, January 23 at Capitale restaurant. While the gala is completely sold out, donations for THON are still being accepted at www.thon.org until the final hours of the 48-hour dance marathon, which begins at 7 p.m. on February 20 and ends at 7 p.m. on February 22. I will be volunteering at the gala and my brother, currently a junior at Penn State, is on a rules & regulations committee, working during THON.