UPPER BURRELL, Pa. -- With THON 2016 less than four months away, Penn State New Kensington students are stepping up the fundraising activities with a pair of events at the Upper Burrell Township Volunteer Fire Company hall. The annual Spaghetti Dinner is slated from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8,, and the Holiday Basket Bingo is set for 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3. The fire hall is located at 4307 Seventh Street Road, about three miles from campus.
The spaghetti dinner menu features salad, bread, tea/orange juice/water/coffee, spaghetti with meat sauce or plain marinara, and various desserts. Tickets are $8 for adults, $4 for children younger than 10, and free for children 3 years old and younger. Takeout is available.
Local residents, along with the campus community, are invited to show-off their bingo acumen and vie for an assortment of baskets filled with a variety of goodies. Admission is $10 for students and $15 for the general public, and includes two bingo cards of three games each. Additional bingo cards are available for $3. Holiday snacks and refreshments will be sold throughout the evening. Participants must be at least 18 years old. All proceeds benefit the campus THON campaign.
For tickets to the events or more info on THON, contact Lauren Blum at 724-334-6063 or ldb14@psu.edu.
THON committeeCo-chaired by junior business management majors Shannon Josefoski and Shawna Fluhme, the campus THON committee sponsors the spaghetti dinner and basket bingo to raise funds for the University-wide event that benefits the Four Diamonds Fund at the Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital. The fund’s goal is to support pediatric cancer patients, families and researchers. THON, formally known as the Penn State Interfraternity Council/ Panhellenic Dance Marathon, culminates with a 46-hour, no-sitting, no-sleeping marathon from Feb. 20 to 22, at the University Park campus.
A year ago, Penn State New Kensington students raised $28,000, fourth best in campus history. The campus record is $52,000, set in 2011 under the leadership of THON chair Kelly Sieja. In the past five years, the New Kensington THON committee has collected nearly $200,000, Since 2002, campus students have raised $300,000. Fundraising activities will continue through February as campus students will be hosting various events and canning outside businesses in the region to raise money for what is believed to be the largest student-run philanthropy in the world.
For more on THON, visit www.thon.org.