The future of THON fundraising

After a recent suspension of the second canning weekend. THON directors decided to hold an open forum to address the questions brought up by this decision.

For this upcoming canning weekend students will not be allowed to go canning or canvassing.

They can only fundraise around the State College area. The second canning weekend will not be rescheduled.

Lastly, the third canning weekend is tentative and THON is working to determine safety issues concerning this canning weekend according to Katie Mailey, the THON 2016 director.

One of the concerns addressed in this open forum was the issue of the accident that occurred during the first canning weekend.

Tally Sepot, a sophomore in Alpha Chi Omega, was killed in an accident on her way home from a canning trip.

This event caused THON to look over volunteer safety.

“I think we as an organization have to look out for our welfare. We need to reduce the risk for the welfare of our students,” said Katie.

Regarding travel, Katie said they don’t want students to feel inclined to go canning or canvassing because of the recent cancellation of the second canning weekend.

One other concern was the amount of traveling done during canning weekends. Since specific weekends are designated to canning it can create a “mass exodus” of traffic and THON is looking at the travels on canning weekends as opposed to other weekends.

At the forum some students discussed adding a system to register seatbelts and vehicles or to have someone in their organization check for safety measures.

Students at the forum said canning is good as it is right now, but there is room for change.

Amber Kloper, the president of Ohana, said we can always do more, to help with canning safety.
Canning practices have changed in the recent years including a new safety course e-video that THON requires students to watch before they go canning.

There is also a new rule that was implemented this year in which two canners have to be at a street corner.

Although nothing has been made official about canning safety, THON is taking precautions to change safety rules for the third canning weekend. All of these suggestions are being taken into account by THON and Katie said they will look into these suggestions.

“We are looking at the travel surrounding fundraising methods,” she said.

Katie also encouraged THON chairs to look into other forms of fundraising for THON.

“I think that there’s a lot of ways to branch out from canning and we need to look at other fundraising opportunities,” she said.

This year THON wanted to change the name of canning weekends to fundraising outreach weekends according to Molly Twohig, The Rules and Regulations Director for Volunteer Safety.

“Our fundraising is not solely made out of canning,” said Molly.

Molly suggested alternative fundraising methods for THON.

Some alternative ways to fundraise that were highlighted included thonvelopes, donation boxes, alternative fundraisers, corporate matching and social media.

Lily Beatty, the Public Relations Chair for THON 2016, said she wants to get THON’s message out through social media.

“I really want to utilize this in the upcoming weeks,” she said.

She wants to reach out to people who aren’t in the Penn State community and share THON’s message through social media.

This would be a way to gain more awareness about THON.

As far as the third canning weekend goes, it is still tentative.

Students at the open forum had mixed reactions on the outcome of the decision for the second canning weekend.

“I feel that it had to be addressed,” said David Rawlins, the Communications Chair for Ohana.

Kylie Apelquist, the THON Chair for the Biomedical Engineering Society, said that she can understand why they made the decision.

“What happened was a terrible tragedy,” said Amber.

She said in the end THON is more about support for the children and their families then it is the money.

Ensuring volunteer safety is one issue that was discussed and it addresses the welfare of the students involved in this cause. Although there is no official decision THON safety will change in the weeks to come.