THON™ is home to numerous organizations and volunteers who all contribute to finding a cure for childhood cancer. These organizations come from all different realms of activities, including Greek life, club sports, special interest orgs, and more. Each organization puts in effort to support THON’s mission.
This week, THON is highlighting special interest org Hershey Kisses. We interviewed Hershey Kisses members Alex Amato and Faith Goldman to learn more about their organization and their role in THON.
Q: Can you tell me a little bit about Hershey Kisses and their role in THON?
A: “Hershey Kisses is a special interest org, so our sole purpose is to raise money for THON and Four Diamonds. Hershey Kisses specifically, we have 4 families, and considering how small of a group we are, that’s pretty significant, and we are all very close with our families, so that’s another part of what makes us so special. Their involvement with us is a part of what makes us very unique as an org. So I would say that, within THON we’re very connected with our individual families, and doing a lot for THON. We’re very proud of what we do.”
Q: How many people are in your org?
A: “Probably around 30 people.”
Q: How does Hershey Kisses typically get involved throughout the THON year?
A: “We do a lot of fundraisers, like downtown food, bake sales, and… our own individual alt fundraisers, so we’ll do stuff like the bingo boards, the dare boards. We do something called Wingo Fest. Last year, it was our first time, and it was kind of like Hot Ones. It’s like a bingo board, but each section has a different wing, and so people can buy out a square, and then we would have to eat them, so we all got together one night, raised a good amount of money with it, and then we all ate hot wings. And we do cornhole and goat yoga. We just try to be really creative and think of things that our members would want to do. We really want to inspire our members to get involved as much as they can.”
Q: What inspires Hershey Kisses to be so dedicated to THON’s mission?
A: “I feel like it’s probably our connections to our families. I think we get to get really close with them, and we hear their stories, and it provides a deeper level of understanding into… why we’re doing this, and how important it is when you hear their personal stories. You see them in… their house, and you’re having meals with them, it just becomes so much more personal, and I think that’s one of the biggest things that drives us and keeps us going. We really do it for them, and we do it for all the kids, but our families, we hold them very dear to our hearts.”
Q: If you could share one story that captures the spirit of Hershey Kisses’ involvement, what would it be?
A: “When we were freshmen, so THON 2023, during the Final Four Angel Hour, Ellen, one of our most involved families, she’s an angel child, and there was a glitch in the jumbotron during that moment where her picture was up, so the entire BJC was just silent. It was Ellen’s picture on there, and it was so surreal… then one of the members of our org shouted out ‘Ellen forever’, which is her saying, and then everyone from our org started chanting it, and it was just silent and just Ellen. Her parents were there on the floor. It was so cool.”
Q: Does Hershey Kisses do any unique fundraisers/what is your favorite fundraising event you do?
A: “ Besides the ones that we already said, I really like the grilled sticky fundraiser. We have a connection through one of the bakeries… we sell grilled stickies and that brings us in a lot of money, and plus the grilled stickies are just really good. We do it during Christmas time, so you can have it for Christmas morning. We did the dare boards in the past, but last year, instead of just a dare board, we also did a relay race, so it was like a thermometer, and the more money you raised, the more people would have to do things together. There was a three-legged race, chug milk, and then run three legs, and then back, then the next person would have to get pied in the face, and then run three legs to the end, and then come back. That definitely connected the org members, in addition to us just raising money for THON, which is definitely another thing we pride ourselves on. We’re all very close… and I like to pride ourselves on being very inclusive.”
Q: Does Hershey Kisses have a favorite THON memory?
A: “Every single Thanksgiving and springtime, we have a retreat at the Ellen Smith family house and they always cook us food, and we play games, and it’s just a really good time that we get to catch up with her family and spend time with them… It’s just a great time for all of our members to see why we’re here, why we do what we do. So just any retreat where we spend time with the Smiths is definitely a favorite memory.”
Q: What is Hershey Kisses’ favorite part of THON weekend?
A: “There’s like a few. I mean obviously the total reveal is always [a favorite]. You can literally go up to the corner where our org is and everyone would just start dancing with you and that’s one of my favorite parts too. Being in the stands and getting to look down and see our members dancing and I think that’s fun. And then I mean, Final Four that’s just above everything. When it comes to our organization as a whole, I would definitely say that everyone is super enthusiastic for the Final Four.”
Q: What are your goals for THON 2026?
A: “More members. I feel like our org is really special, and I just kind of want to share it with everyone. I feel like this is something really special, and to have more people and… grow our little family, that’s really important to us. Raising even more money for the kids, for the cure that’s always a really big one. We try to step up each year and push a little harder, and it just means so much to us to do our part. Definitely just really sharing how special Hershey Kisses is and just how special THON is, that really is the goal of us this year. ”
Q: What message would you share with other students or supporters who want to get involved?
A: “THON is way bigger than yourself. You have the chance to come to Penn State and contribute to something that is so meaningful…just do it. It doesn’t have to be with Hershey Kisses; join a committee, if your club has a THON org, get involved with them. There’s so many ways to get involved, and it’s all for the same purpose. Hershey Kisses is a great spot but definitely getting involved with THON is a very good opportunity and it puts in connections with so many people too.”
To ensure that THON is able to donate 96 cents of every dollar raised to Four Diamonds at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, we heavily rely on donor support. These donations provide us the resources to create endless memories for our Four Diamonds families & foster a deep love & connection to our mission for our volunteers through Pre-THON Events, alternative fundraisers, & THON Weekend.
