UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State Athletics will be heavily involved with the 44th IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon (THON) held at the Bryce Jordan Center this weekend.THON's 708 dancers will begin standing at 6 p.m. on Friday and not sit down or sleep until Sunday at 4 p.m. to raise awareness for the fight against pediatric cancer in the largest student-run philanthropy in the world.Since 1977, THON has partnered with The Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital with one goal in mind: conquering childhood cancer. To date, more than $127 million has been raised by THON. THON raised more than $13 million in 2015 with 96 percent of THON's funds being donated directly to Four Diamonds.Each year, more than 15,000 Penn State student volunteers dedicate their time to THON, making it the largest student-run philanthropy in the world.
Members of Penn State's Student Athlete Advisory Board (SAAB) are active participants in THON, and have run several fund-raising activities once again this year including sending solicitation letters to friends and family, and a lip sync competition. In addition to generating financial support for THON, SAAB also provides emotional support to its THON children, Isabella Messina and Colton Buckley, and their families throughout the year.
Those wishing to assist in SAAB's fund-raising efforts and help a good cause by donating directly to THON can do so by visiting www.thon.org and selecting SAAB as the organization whose name you'd like to donate under.Four Penn State student-athletes will represent SAAB as dancers in THON 2016: Liisi Vink-Lainas and Angela Widlacki (Naperville, Ill.) from women's soccer, Emily Rivers from women's tennis and Matt Zanellato from football."This means the world to us. As athletes you are given a platform that a normal student might not have," said Zanellato. "It's one of those things that when you come in as a freshman, you know that you will have that platform for a few years. I wanted to make the most of it. I realized that THON was something special to me when I came to Penn State. I wanted to use my platform as best I could."Additionally, Angela Connors and Jessica Spellman from the Lionettes squad and from Penn State cheerleading Kenny Fuhrman, Paige Gentry, Jordan Hinkle, Kylie Tobasco and Mike White will be dancing in THON.Within Penn State Athletics, strategic communications student assistants Emily Hesidence and Kate Brandell will be among the dancers at THON, as well.
In addition to the dancers and several committee members, numerous other student-athletes both attend THON and participate in Student-Athlete Hour and a THON favorite, the pep rally, on Saturday. A number of Penn State teams will host families as part of the THON 2016 Explorers Program. The football program will host approximately 30 THON families at the Lasch Building in conjunction with the THON Explorers Program on Saturday afternoon.