13 Strangers

I’m not usually one to strike up a conversation with a stranger, let alone open up my home to them. But when it came to canning for THON, that’s what I did.

           

For those of you unfamiliar with THON, it is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world, raising money for the Four Diamonds Fund to benefit pediatric cancer patients and culminating in a 46-hour dance marathon. Since Penn State students founded it in 1973, THON has raised more than $78 million towards The Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital. Last year alone over $9.5 million was raised through generous donations through mail, the Internet and canning weekends¹.

So when it came time for another canning weekend, I thought to myself, “Why not offer to house fellow members of my THON organization, Apollo, for a few days? Sure, I may not know them that well, but I’d be helping our effort to raise money for a great cause.” I’d certainly never housed 13 virtual strangers before, so if my THON group decided to go to my hometown Hershey it would definitely be a new experience!

Low and behold, the chairs of our THON group decided to go to my hometown, Hershey, which meant Apollo members would be staying at my house. At first I was excited—I’d get to go home and know the members of my THON group. But then I became more anxious. Essentially 13 strangers were coming to my house. I’d only been canning once before so I wasn’t totally sure as to what the routine was for a canning weekend.

Here we canners are, about to embark on a December canning weekend in Philadelphia. The sign we are making is the symbol for the Four Diamonds Fund. 

A friend of mine from home was also going canning with Apollo, so she volunteered her house for dinner. After we had eaten a feast of Italian food her mom had prepared, we decided to go to Chocolate World, the typical Hershey-tourist thing to do. Unbeknown to us, Chocolate World had closed 5 hours before we got there. Oops! Here I was, in my own town and I didn’t even know the details about the most obvious of things to do! I hoped this wasn’t an omen of the canning weekend.

My parents greeted us as we walked into my house, and then we set up camp in the basement. Here was my home, full of memories and embarrassing baby pictures, and there were kids from college whom I barely knew. It felt strange to me; opening my home to people I didn’t know. But, before I knew it, we were all playing ping-pong and playstation. My fat baby pictures faded into the background. I didn’t know these people, but they seemed nice!

Being the locals, my friend and I mapped out where we’d be canning the next day. The next morning we woke ourselves up and set out to try and raise money.

And raised we did! We raised a fair amount of money considering our location and conditions. Exhausted from the long day, the canners decided to go back to State College and I stayed home with my family.

Although I’d certainly never housed 13 unfamiliar people before, in the end I think it was a good experience. At first I may have been nervous about hosting others, but by the end of the canning trip I felt like I’d gotten to know them better. In the end knew each other better, shared some laughs and raised money to help kids with cancer. I'd say it was a success. 

If you would like to find out more about what THON is, please visit http://www.thon.org.

¹http://www.thon.org/