With THON less than a month away, one can only wonder how the cancellation of several canning weekends will impact the bottom line.
For years, Penn State students have traveled throughout the East Coast, holding cans and soliciting donations for THON, the world’s largest student-run philanthropy. THON, of course, benefits cancer victims and research.
This year, however, things have been different. Canning was suspended after a car accident in late September killed a Penn State student as she and six others were returning from a canning weekend in Chester County.
Lily Beatty, a senior supply-chain-management major from Rockford, Ill., and the public relations director for THON, talked about the impact the lack of canning weekends will have on THON 2016.
“Anytime there is an unexpected change to a fundraising model, there are ramifications,” Beatty said. “Canning was a large part of THON’s fundraising model and has been for a number of years. This year, we made a very large push with our organizations to focus on other forms of fundraising.”
So, instead of canning, Penn State students were forced to be creative. Fundraising for THON took on different forms, including letter-writing, door-to-door solicitation, bake sales and benefit dinners.
The cancellation of canning weekends changed the shape of fundraising and made things more diverse. That’s a good thing, Beatty said.
“The more diverse your fundraising model is, the more sustainable it is in the long run. We are able to participate in massive letter-writing campaigns. We’re able to have alternative fundraisers that are held by students. It really has challenged students to become more creative and look at how fundraising was done in the past and how it’s going to be different in the future,” Beatty said.
Canning was something fun and comfortable for students. It was easy, Beatty said. Students were forced to think outside the box, something THON organizers wanted well before the cancellations of the canning weekends took place.
“We’ve seen an increase in different forms of fundraising. This year, we’ve definitely seen that which has been a positive thing,” Beatty said.
Although canning has been a big part of THON culture, Beatty said that students understood the reasons why it was cancelled this year.
“We’ve implemented a lot of different safety procedures. We made an online e-course that everyone had to take to be eligible to fundraise for THON. There’s been a progression of safety procedures. Even some of those didn’t adequately protect our volunteers. We had to evaluate what we had in place. In the end, I think everyone understood the decision,” Beatty said.
THON has raised more than $127 million for families of children with cancer and for pediatric research since 1977. Last year, THON raised more than $13 million.
Despite the cancellation of canning, Beatty said that she expects fundraising totals to be strong once again.
“There will likely be an impact. That happens anytime a fundraising model changes,” she said.
But in the end, it’s not about the numbers, Beatty said.
“One of the best things about THON is that it’s so much more than that fundraising total,” she said. “Being able to create the atmosphere THON weekend that makes people forget about their cancer treatments is something that we take a lot of pride in.”
