UPPER BURRELL, Pa. — Penn State New Kensington students Wati Kumwenda and Ben Lesko packed their Dr. Scholl's and are ready for their journey this weekend, Feb. 19 to 21, to University Park for the 44th edition of the annual Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, also known as THON, which benefits the Four Diamonds Fund and the fight against pediatric cancer. The students, chosen by the campus THON committee headed by co-chairs Shawna Fluhme and Shannon Josefoski, will represent the New Kensington campus.
The campus dancers join 700 students, from all Penn State campuses, who will stay on their feet for 46 hours to raise money for children with cancer. Since 1977, more than $127 million has been raised for the charity through the collective efforts of 15,000 student-volunteers. More than 3,000 families have been assisted by the Four Diamonds Fund at the Penn State Children's Hospital in Hershey.
THON begins at 6 p.m. Friday and continues until 4 p.m. Sunday. Events, such as a pep rally and fashion shows featuring Four Diamonds children, keep the dancers enthusiastic throughout the weekend. The final four hours include recognition of families battling childhood cancer and the unveiling of the fundraising total. A live webcast will be streamed throughout the event. To view the webcast, visit http://thon.org/Webcast.
Kumwenda, a second-year biomedical engineering technology major from Malawi in southeast Africa, and Lesko, a senior information sciences and technology major from New Kensington, received a grand send-off Feb. 17 with a campus-wide “pot-luck” dinner. The terpsichoreans needed to “carbo-load” and students, faculty and staff brought an assortment of pastas and other high-energy foods to help the pair keep pace with the weekend festivities.
Fluhme, a junior business management major from Plum High School, and Josefoski, a junior business marketing major from Highlands High School, will supervise the campus’s THON efforts. The co-chairs will develop and organize schedules and manage shifts and breaks.
The campus total is a secret until the final totals for all campuses are announced at the conclusion of the marathon. Since 2002, the campus has collected more than $310,000. A year ago, THON collected a grand total of $13,026,653.23. THON is believed to be the largest student-run philanthropy in the world.
Giving to THON can be accomplished by visiting http://donate.thon.org/. To credit Penn State New Kensington, donors should go to “General Organizations” andclick the button that designates “New Kensington.”
For more about the New Kensington THON efforts, contact Lauren Blum, student life coordinator, at 724-334-6063 or ldb14@psu.edu.
For more about the dancers, visit http://www.nk.psu.edu/46445.htm.
For more about the co-chairs, visit http://www.nk.psu.edu/Information/News/46441.htm#NEWS46441.
For more on THON, visit http://www.thon.org/.