Grab some marks and cover the free spaces as the Penn State New Kensington students are stepping up their THON fundraising activities with the inaugural Basket Bingo Bash at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11, in the campus Conference Center.
Local residents, along with the campus community, are invited to campus to show-off their bingo acumen and vie for an assortment of baskets filled with a variety of goodies. Admission is $5 for students and $10 for nonstudents and includes two bingo cards of three games each. Additional bingo cards are available for $3. Holiday snacks and refreshments will be sold throughout the evening. Participants must be at least 18-years old.
The campus THON committee, headed by Melissa Gabrielli, a sophomore business marketing major, is sponsoring the bingo bash to raise funds for the University-wide event that benefits the Four Diamonds Fund at the Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital. The fund’s goal is to support pediatric cancer patients, families and researchers. THON, formally known as Penn State Interfraternity Council/ Panhellenic Dance Marathon, culminates with a 46-hour, no-sitting, no-sleeping marathon from Feb. 21 to 23, at the University Park campus. Over the next three months, students from all Penn State campuses will be raising money for what is believed to be the largest student-run philanthropy in the world.
A year ago, Penn State New Kensington students raised $43,000, third best in campus history. In the past three years, the New Kensington THON committee has collected more than $144,000, more than double the total from the past nine years combined.
For more about the bingo bash, contact Lauren Blum at 724-334-6063 or ldb14@psu.edu.