I was reading some Penn State news, starting to write my long overdue second scandal update post (l), when somebody asked me what THON is. I may have mentioned this before but THON is the largest student run charity organization in the world. Since it began in 1977 the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, or THON, has raised almost $80 million dollars for The Four Diamonds Fund of the Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital. The fund helps children with cancer and their families by paying fees and expenses insurance doesn't cover and it also funds pediatric cancer research.Last year Penn State Public Broadcasting made a short documentary called Why We Dance: The Story of THON that explains it much better than I ever could. Rather than try I'm going to post some videos and a link to the full film which is just under one hour long and I think worth watching. The first video is the film's opening sequence and does a good job of explaining what THON is about in just a few minutes. The second video shows the Bryce Jordan Center being readied for the dance marathon, some of it in time-lapse.
The 2013 edition of the THON dance marathon begins this Friday night at 6:00 PM and ends Sunday at 4 PM.
"What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal," Albert Pine.
link
link
Why We Dance: The Story of THON (full documentary, Vimeo HD)
from Penn State Public Broadcasting
Jeffrey Hughes, Executive Producer
David Aneckstein, Penn State Outreach News Bureau
"DVDs of this documentary are available for purchase through our website here. A portion of the sales goes to the Four Diamonds Fund."
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