

A social experiment: How much good can the HN community do in 24 hours? - MaxWendkos

Hey all,<p>For 46 straight hours this weekend, Penn State students will not sit or sleep to to raise funds and awareness for the fight against pediatric cancer.  The event is THON - the world's largest student-run philanthropy and the culmination of a year-long fundraising effort.  (Please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQsXojDxVf0 to get a better understanding of what the students are doing.)<p>Since 1973, the school's students have raised over $78 million and offered consistent emotional support to the children and families fighting this disease.  This year, the students will likely add more than $10 million to that impressive total.<p>As I watch on this weekend with a great amount of admiration and respect, I can't help but want to join in and support the students' effort in every way possible.  And I have, but there is only so much one person can do.  So for that reason, I'm turning to the HN community with a fun social experiment that will undoubtedly test our strength and commitment to social good and making a positive impact on the world: How much can we help these children in the final 24 hours of this year's fundraising window?<p>Although I'm not very vocal on HN, I've been a proud member of this community for over a year and in that time I've seen consistent displays of heart and strength from our members.  This has given me confidence that, together, we can save a child.  The key, of course, is the "together" part.<p>On behalf of HN, can you donate $5 (or more, if you feel you can afford it) to help in the fight to eradicate pediatric cancer?  If we all stand together here, we can help beat this disease.  We can give diagnosed children and their families hope and life.  We can make a difference in the world.<p>If you're willing to join me to support the Penn Staters students and the children for whom they're fighting, please take a second and make a quick donation here: http://bit.ly/yRP3lV.<p>I will track the contributions from the HN community and will write a follow-up post with the results.  So that I am able to monitor HN's contributions, please follow these steps:<p>1) In the "How did you learn about THON?" section (first page), enter "HN" under "Other."
2) In the "Designation Selection" section (first page), select "Organizations."
3) In the "Organizations" section (second page), select "Theta Delta Chi."  (Theta Delta Chi is an incredibly committed student organization that has raised over $100,000 for THON this year.  The organization is sending me its donor list so that I can tally the contributions from the HN community.)<p>Thanks to all who took the time to read this and support this cause.  If you'd like to help further, please share this post with others on Facebook, Twitter, or through any other means that you feel will be effective.<p>For the kids,
Max<p>* DISCLAIMER: I'm a recent Penn State graduate and was heavily involved with THON during my time as a student.  Theta Delta Chi is my fraternity and has graciously offered me access to its donor list so that I can conduct this experiment.
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jtheory
I'm sure it's a worthy cause, but there is no shortage of worthy causes.

Best of luck; but if this post doesn't take off on HN, it's likely because
there's nothing in this challenge to really capture the interest of the HN
crowd specifically, plus the whole "give credit for your donation to my frat"
just has a weird feel to it.

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MaxWendkos
Yeah, I realized that going in, but unfortunately it was the only way for me
to track the donations while still complying with THON's collection policies.

For what it's worth, it's not as if the fraternity "wins" anything for raising
the most money (and Theta Delta Chi is far from the top of fundraising
organizations, anyway). The money is simply tracked so that each student
organization can challenge itself to improve each year.

