This evening Caitlin Zankowski, THON Overall Chair, emailed all Organizations’ THON Chairs notifying them of some significant changes to the canning procedures for this weekend. Because of the snow, all canning must be done in front of stores and other businesses. Organizations can not be on the corners at intersections or on the sides of roads. Any organization found violating these procedures will not have their canning total be credited to their organization, in addition, violators will see their pass lists revoked for the entirety of THON weekend. In the event of serious breaches of procedure organizations could have their total canning amounts uncredited, their dancers removed or their entire fundraising total uncredited.

THON is clearly taking this issue very seriously. There will undoubtedly be some grumbling from Organizations, but if you think about it for half a second, you’ll realize that this is for the safety of the canners. Try to imagine what might happen if a canner got hit by a car while in an intersection. I personally don’t even want to begin to think about what could happen to THON if that would occur. So please while you’re out canning this weekend, stay safe and follow the rules, they’re there for your safety.

Here is the original email that was sent out:

THON Organizations,

As the day has progressed, there have been more concerns expressed by people both internal and external to the University about the safety of students canning this weekend. Because of the extreme weather conditions, ALL STREET AND CORNER SOLICITATION IS PROHIBITED THIS WEEKEND. Any organization canning this weekend MUST be canning at a store front location. Any organization found violating this will lose all of their organization’s canning weekend #4 total and all of your organization passes for THON Weekend without question. In addition to this, you could also be subject to (based on the severity of the incident):

• Loss of all canning weekend totals
• Loss of organization dancers
• Loss of entire organization total for THON 2010

We are taking such serious measures to ensure your safety this weekend because your safety and the future of canning ultimately will affect THON and the kids this year and years to come. Please know that no amount of money is worth is your safety. If you have any questions about registering trips, or need further clarification, please email Lauren Kay at [email protected] or call the THON office at 814-865-0510.

As an alternative to this, we encourage you to do door to door solicitation with pledgebooks or our new solicitation cards! You can pick these up at materials distribution or the THON office before you leave for your trips this weekend. Please be safe and have fun this weekend. We dance in 8 For The Kids!

FTK,
Caitlin

Full Disclosure: I am a THON Technology Captain, but do not have any input in canning procedure. The words written here are my views, and may not reflect the official stance of THON as an organization.

[Photo Credit: Jessie Zimmerman via Penn State Live]