This year, the students at Penn State Schuylkill raised $56,282.83 for the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, the most money in campus history.
The amount the campus THON committee raised for the annual 46-hour dance marathon was announced during THON 2014, which was held Feb. 21 to 23 at the Bryce Jordan Center at University Park.
The yearlong effort to raise funds and awareness for the fight against pediatric cancer has raised more than $101 million for the Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital since 1977.
Tina Rose, the THON committee adviser and coordinator of student leadership, career development and community service at Penn State Schuylkill, said the campus THON raised more than $56,000 to be ranked fifth out of all 19 commonwealth campuses, and number one, for the second consecutive year, among the five campuses located in northeast Pennsylvania.
"Our campus THON would like to thank each and every one of you for your support this THON season," Rose said. "In all honesty, even though we are thrilled to have reached our goal and surpass last year's total, it is about helping families to be able to pay the expenses for the care and treatment of their children that are diagnosed with cancer each and every day. It is about trying to fund research so we can find a cure and beat cancer."
Rose said that since 2010, the campus has raised more than $100,000 to help find a cure and support the families that are fighting cancer everyday and that THON and The Four Diamonds Fund have proudly assisted more than 2,000 children and families during their fight against pediatric cancer.
According to newspaper archives, the Penn State Schuylkill THON committee raised $47,956.69 in 2013.
In 2012, the amount was about $30,000 and the year before was only a little more than $5,000.
She said that over the past few months, the campus held canning or canister solicitation fundraisers, on and off-campus events, requested donations through mail and online. She said it is because of the campus community and local community that the Penn State Schuylkill THON committee was able to be so successful this year.
During the dancer send-off Feb. 20 at Penn State Schuylkill, Winn Allen, Orwigsburg, chairman of the committee, said that during the first canning weekend in September, the students raised $17,000.
The three Penn State Schuylkill student dancers - Allen, Delisa Williams, Philadelphia, and Alex Frantz, Pottsville - joined more than 700 dancers from across the university and stayed on their feet for the entire 46-hour no-sitting, no-sleeping dance marathon.
Overall, Penn State THON set a new record in 2014 by raising $13,343,517.33 for the Four Diamonds Fund, surpassing last year's record of $12,374,034.00.
There were 60 organization members at Penn State Schuylkill this year that helped with fundraising efforts.
"We want to thank you for helping us throughout this journey," Rose said. "We want to thank you for every dollar you gave. We, Schuylkill THON, thank all of you for helping us put smiles on all those little faces."