Penn State University holds the largest and most successful student-run philanthropist in the country -- the Dancer Marathons for 4 Diamond fund, which pays the costs for children with cancer treated at Hershey Medical Center.
Every February, approximately 600 students gear themselves up for 48 hours of standing on their feet, line dancing, and hallucinations. Hundreds of other students will act as morale crew, or serve as the entertainment committee, or bring in the food, while thousands canvas across the state of Pennsylvania and the Northeast corridor asking for donations. All of this work is for the annual Penn State University Dance Marathon, which raises money for Hershey Medical Center's Four Diamonds Fund. The 'Thon, as it is commonly known, is considered to be the largest student-run philanthropy in the United States, having raised over $3 million in 2000.
Begun in 1973, the first dance marathon consisted of 36 couples and over the first few years, the marathon donated the proceeds to familiar charities like the Heart Association. In 1977, the Intra-Fraternity Council (IFC) which sponsors the marathon, decided to fund the Four Diamonds Fund, and the two entities have been joined ever since.
The Four Diamonds Fund was based a story by Christopher Millard, an adolescent dying of cancer. In 1972, Millard wrote the tale of a young knight in King Arthur's Round Table who searched for the Four Diamonds which would provide the strength, courage, wisdom, and honesty to the kingdom. It was Millard's way of working through the illness that eventually took his life. His parents, in Christopher's memory, set up the Four Diamonds Fund at Hershey Medical Center (the medical school for Penn State). The fund is designed to help the families of children who are treated for cancer at the Hershey hospital. It floundered in its first few years, until its marriage with the Dance Marathon.
Today, the Four Diamonds Fund provides direct financial support for the families of the young cancer patients. The goal is that no family will incur an expense - from medical costs, to nursing support and hospice care, to plane fares and funeral expenses (if they are sadly needed).
'Thon helps make this possible. Planning for dance marathon is a year-round process. The University donates the space. The students take over the rest. Fraternities and sororities travel all over the east coast and stand on street corners and visit buildings and make phone calls, asking for donations. They work in teams, and work in competition against each other, and they pull together from all over the University. Penn State has 23 campuses, and most of them send dancers and raise money. Independent organizations join the Greek societies on the dance floor. There are battles of bands that act both as fund-raisers and as competitions to decide which bands will perform at the 'Thon. All this internal competition has consistently raised the bar. In 1983, they raised over $100,000 for the first time. Ten years later, they surpassed $1 million; five years later, they broke $2 million.
'Thon takes place in mid-February, usually around Valentine's Day. At 7 pm on Friday evening, the chairperson tells the dancers to get on their feet, to great cheers. The first thing that happens is that the dancers are taught a line dance to a popular (and upbeat) tune. The line dance may be the most important thing for the dancers because it helps to keep them focused and when the mind begins to wander, the familiar strains of the line dance (which they'll hear in their sleep for months afterward) pops them back to reality.
For 48 hours, the dancers cannot sit down. They aren't required to actually dance, but they must keep standing. Game stations are set up around the gym, movies are shown, special guests (like football coach Joe Paterno) stop by to visit. Morale committee members are taught how to give foot and leg massages, which they provide instantly, whenever requested. But the inspiring moments come on Saturday afternoon, when many of the cancer patients and their families come to visit. The children and families are allowed on the floor with the dancers, and the energy in the building is remarkable. Parents tell their stories. The fraternities often adopt families and keep in contact throughout the year. Many of the dancers are related to cancer victims who have been treated at Hershey. When the children are on the floor, all of the students, not just the dancers, are no longer dancing for an anonymous cause, but for real children.
With the success of the dance marathon, Penn State has been contacted to help other schools set up similar fund-raisers. But this one continues to be the largest run student-philanthropy in the country, proving that students can give their time, money and effort for good.
