The Penn State University Dance Marathon, a student-run benefit that raises money for children with cancer, collected $3.6 million this weekend, organizers said.
\nThe event, known to many as the \u201cThon\u201d, is billed as the world\u2019s largest student-run philanthropy and raises money for the Four Diamonds Fund.
\nThis year\u2019s marathon ran Friday through Sunday and raised $3,600,793, according to marathon spokeswoman Sara Ridge, a Penn State student.
\nThe first Thon, held in 1973, had just 78 dancers from Penn State\u2019s main campus and raised only $2,000. But the numbers of dancers and the amount of money raised have increased dramatically over the years; this year\u2019s event was expected to attract 700 dancers.
\nMore than 25,000 spectators attend the event each year, many dancing along.
\nSince Thon and Four Diamonds came together in 1977, Penn State students have raised more than $20 million for Four Diamonds, organizers said.
\nThis year\u2019s event marked the fourth consecutive year the event topped $3 million in money raised.
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\nOn the Net:
\nDance Marathon: http:\/\/www.thon.org\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Penn State University Dance Marathon, a student-run benefit that raises money for children with cancer, collected $3.6 million this weekend, organizers said. The event, known to many as the \u201cThon\u201d, is billed as the world\u2019s largest student-run philanthropy and raises money for the Four Diamonds Fund. This year\u2019s marathon ran Friday through Sunday and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}