Last year, Brandywine THON had a very successful fundraising season raising $12,296.12 for the Four Diamonds Fund to help in the fight against pediatric cancer. However, this year after only two canning weekends and a couple events, Brandywine THON has not only met its total from last year, but also surpassed it.

Just to put this record setting year into perspective– after all three canning weekends last year, Brandywine THON had made nearly $9,000. This year, after the first canning weekend, Brandywine THON raised $8,500. The group added another $5,000 during the second weekend. Already Brandy­wine THON has raised more money than last year, with one more canning weekend to go and other events still planned.

The two Brandywine THON overall chairs are, to the least to say, thrilled about how this year is turning out so far.

“I was ecstatic,” Brandywine overall chair and Penn State ju­nior Jessica Maginnis said. “I can’t believe we are already past our total from last year and it’s only October!”

Brandywine THON’s other overall chair, senior Kayla Csizma­zia, was also very pleased with the group’s recent success.

“I was amazed because we never raised that much money be­fore in one canning weekend,” Csizmazia said.

They both attributed the early success to two main aspects: the more organized and dedicated chair committee and the amount of people who have joined this year.

“I was so excited going into this year,” Csizmazia said. “I knew that the group who was picked to lead THON was more dedicated than any other group in the past.”

The committee includes: Kevin Cardella, the canning chair; Liz Gramlich, the family relations chair; Renee Tallman, the event chair; Dan Monteverde, the finance chair; Lauren Lo­mas, the Donors and Alumni relations chair and Paul Alberici, the Public Relations chair.

Freshman like Ryan Stone has stepped up big time and will ac­tually be taking over in the spring when Csizmazia leaves and Mark Gurenlian, who has shown a lot of dedication and hopes to help with Donors and Alumni next year.

One of the most exciting and surprising aspects of this year was Brandywine THON being granted a THON family. A THON family is a family whose child has been diagnosed with some form of cancer and is partnered with the Four Diamonds Fund, which is what THON raises all its money for.

The reason this is such a big deal for Brandywine is because the group has not had a family for years. However, because of the group’s tireless work, Brandywine THON was deemed successful and passionate enough to handle being there for a family in need during this stressful time. This effort to regain a family can be attributed to one member in particular, Liz Gramlich.

After meeting the Chapman family, another Four Diamonds family who is partnered with Abington’s THON organization, Liz had an extreme desire to get Brandywine THON a family of its very own. Between multiple trips back and forth to University Park for meetings and writing a 15 page paper telling why Brandywine can handle a family because of the suc­cess in the past couple years, Gramlich was determined to get Brandywine a THON family.

And when the good news came in, she was ecstatic.

“I found out in front of the Brandywine THON organization and just started jumping up and down and was almost in tears, while screaming that we had got a family,” Gramlich said. “I was supposed to surprise our THON organization later on, but I could not contain myself. It was just so emotional and exciting. In my opinion, there is no bigger honor and privilege in THON then receiving a THON family!”

It is this kind of dedication and passion that has contributed to Brandywine THON’s success. On October 26, about 15 members went to University Park to run in THON’s annual 5K walk/run. To stand out in the crowd, Brandywine students dressed up as the “101 Dal­matians.” With all this success and the dedicated members they have assembled, Brandywine THON shows no signs of stopping.

“I hope to build a larger organization, build better relationships with the campus com­munity, and raise a great amount of money,” Maginnis said.

When THON members are asked why they do what they do, the response is always the same: FTK, THON’s motto meaning–For the Kids.

Paul Alberici

Lion’s Eye Writer, paa5102@psu.edu

This fundraising year started out with much optimism from all the members and officers in charge of Brandywine THON.

Coming off the excitement of raising more than $12,000 during the fundraising season last year, everyone was eager to get back to work. Now that THON 2014 is a little more than a week away, Brandywine THON can look back on its record-breaking 2013-14 year with much pride and satisfaction knowing that hard-work paid off. And this year so far hasn’t been short of its memorable moments for the members.

“After that first weekend when we crushed what we wanted to get, that really got the ball rolling for it to be a successful year,” Mark Gurenlian, who was also involved with Springfield High School’s mini-THON organization, said.

During the first canning weekend, Brandywine THON was able to raise more than $8,500, which is a single weekend record for Brandywine. Many THON members were blown away and morale skyrocketed.  This extraordinary amount of money raised in a single weekend has led Brandywine THON to nearly double their amount from last year at more than $22,000 as of right now.

Lexie Smith, a Brandywine freshman, was stunned during her first canning experience at people’s constant generosity.

“Every time I would get a donation, I would get goose-bumps because I realized that there are some awesome people that will give you every bit of change in their car,” Smith said.

Other members loved the whole canning experience in general, and also loved hearing the stories of alums and survivors alike.

Some members were fans of the various events that occurred this year so far. Mike Mensah enjoyed the FT5K, a 5k run up at State College.  In addition, it’s a chance to meet the THON children.

Becca Jones said her favorite event was the 100 days ‘til THON celebration, which kicks off the official countdown to the dance marathon on February 21^st to 23^rd.

“Everyone had a good time and it was fun to plan as well,”  Jones said.

She was also a part of the committee for planning Brandywine’s personal celebration, which had its own special superhero theme.

Larry Paoletti was a big fan of the Chance auction that took place back on January 19. There were a bunch of different baskets and prizes to win with a spaghetti dinner all helping raise Brandywine’s total even higher.  But the food and prizes weren’t even his favorite part.

“I was able to hear an amazing story from a family that battled through cancer,” Paoletti said.

That family he was speaking of was the Chapman family, one of the Four Diamond families; this particular family is partnered with Penn State Abington THON’s organization, but has become very close friends with Brandywine members as well. The family’s youngest daughter, Gabrielle Chapman is a cancer survivor.  Gabby, along with her family, were all in attendance at the Brandywine THON’s chance auction.

All the members who were at the event had the chance to hear Gabby’s mother tell her story about her daughter’s fight against Medullablastoma, a malignant form of brain cancer.  And thanks to the doctors at the Hershey Medical Center and volunteers who work with THON, Gabby Chapman has been cancer free for more than 7 years.

“It’s mind blowing to this day that THON gives you hope when you are at the end of your rope and hanging on for dear life,” Peg Chapman said. “I cannot imagine our lives without THON or our kids that are family now. Our lives are forever altered by this AMAZING organization.”

For many of the newer THON members they had never met a Four Diamonds family or heard their story of how cancer had affected one of their children. It was very inspiring for many of them to hear a story from one of the many people that THON is helping.

Brandywine members will be cheering on Brandywine THON’s dancer Liz Gramlich and Jason Severin who will be standing for 46 non-stop hours during the weekend.

“I am beyond excited for THON weekend! With only a few weeks left I can hardly wait to dance all weekend for the kids,” said Shannon Wright, who, like many others, has never been to THON weekend. “My sister and I are already planning our outfits and breaking in our new sneakers! This will probably be the best weekend of our lives!”

Michael Mensah will also be witnessing his first THON.

“I cannot explain to you in words how excited I am for THON weekend. I’m counting down the days,” Mensah said. “I can’t wait to just go into the BJC and just witness the atmosphere for myself.”

“I am so excited for THON this year, I have no stopped thinking and planning about it since last year, it was the most incredible experience of my life.” Said Nikki Maginnis, who is the younger sister of Brandywine THON overall, Jessica Maginnis.

The total amount raised all by all of THON last year in 2012-13 was $12.3 million, and considering the amount of work that has been put in this year just for Brandywine, it could likely be another record-breaking year.

Paul Alberici, Lions Eye staff Writer paa5102@psu.edu