Students respond to canning canellation

Fundraising and the image of THON could be taking on a new definition.  With the cancellation of the third canning weekend, it seems that THON is taking a new route. Now that both of the canning weekends have been cancelled organizations will have to take alternative routes to fundraise for this organization.

The third canning weekend was cancelled after the death of a Penn State student, Tally Sepot. A sophomore and a sister of Alpha Chi Omega, she died in a car accident on her way home from the first canning weekend.

After this incident, THON Directors have been carefully reviewing canning safety and how this fundraising method is handled. They are looking into new ways to ensure volunteer safety.

Until THON Directors find a way to make canning safer it is postponed. However, concerns were raised when the third canning weekend was cancelled.

At 11am on Tuesday morning, THON director, Katie Mailey, released a letter to announce the cancellation of the third canning weekend. In this letter Mailey said that some volunteers may feel obligated or forced to go canning. This raises an important question about THON and what it’s future may be to Penn State students.

While this decision was clearly not made lightly and was for the safety of all THON volunteers both now and in the future, responses varied from current volunteers and students. The Tab decided to ask students their reactions to this recent change.

“It’s more commercial than it is actually helping the kids, it’s more of a competition.,” said Allison Wagman, a sophomore who is a member of the THON organization LEV.

Last year, there was a decrease in THON total and students were curious as to why the numbers changed. Questions arose about why the total was smaller than usual and where THON is headed.

“I think it’s in danger. With no canning and talk of getting rid of the canning model the totals are going to plummet. Forget the competition aspect, less money equals less help for the cure and for the kids,” said Brenna Wolf, the THON chair for Clown Nose Club.

The impact of the cancellation of these canning weekends will affect this year’s total.

Mailey encouraged volunteers to look into alternative methods of fundraising such as thonvelopes, donation boxes, and local fundraisers.

Students have been raising money through alternative fundraisers such as spaghetti dinners and bake sales. Another method people have been using is social media.

Amanda Yarson, a sophomore in Zeta Tau Alpha, said that she hopes THON gets more attention and it will become more well-known.

Amanda said, she is seeing it more on social media and hopes people will know more about the cause. Other students are hopeful that canning weekends will eventually return to THON.

Jack Dalton, a junior at Penn State, said that canning will probably return with a different structure and some new updates.

“We can only go up, we might have had some unfortunate accidents, but we’ll pick it back up again,” said Justin Charchan, a junior at Penn State.