Frequently Asked Questions - Families

If you’re a family that is on active treatment as of early fall, you may be eligible for a complimentary hotel room for THON Weekend. During December or January, you will be given your hotel assignment.

Families not on active treatment are required to make their own reservations, however many hotels will offer a discount to your family. Please refer to the September Mailer for a list of hotels that offer discounts to Four Diamond Families!

If your child is on active treatment, then you are allocated one complimentary hotel room for THON Weekend. If you need additional rooms, you must cover the cost. In order to keep your family in one hotel, we can help to book the second room for you. Please note if you would like your rooms to be adjoining.

Directly outside of the Family Entrance (Founder’s Entrance on the Mezzanine Level) is the Family Parking Lot. The handicap parking lot also leads directly into the entrance. If you’re staying at the Nittany Lion Inn, there will be a shuttle to the BJC.

Each family will receive 1 parking pass in the February Mailer. If you know that your family needs an additional parking pass for immediate family members, please contact Sean Tucker at family.relations@thon.org.

All families receive a personalized schedule in their family bag that is received THON Weekend. Each schedule lists the specific events that your family signed up for, as well as location, time, and any additional information. If you have any questions about your family’s schedule, feel free to ask a Family Relations Captain!

Each committee is assigned a different color to represent their committee.

• Communications- Kelly Green
• Donor & Alumni Relations- Royal Blue
• Entertainment- Orange
• Family Relations- Baby Blue
• Finance- Forest Green
• Hospitality- Hot Pink
• Merchandise- Light Pink
• Morale- Yellow
• OPPerations- Navy Blue
• Public Relations- Purple
• Rules and Regulations- Red (Captains wear black)
• Special Events- Maroon
• Supply Logistics- Charcoal
• Technology- Safety Green

Overalls, Captains, and Committee Members also wear pins THON weekend that denote their particular committee.

That’s up to you! Once on the floor, you can meet up with your organization, mingle with the dancers, participate in floor activities, etc. Also, from the floor, you will have access to the South Annex and Family Lounge.

The best advice is to layer! Although THON is in February, the Bryce Jordan Center can be very hot. Most volunteers in the BJC wear shorts and a t-shirt. As a family member, you can wear whatever makes you comfortable. If nervous about getting too cold, bring a light jacket or sweatshirt. You should wear tennis shoes since there is no sitting on the dance floor!

Yes! Food, drinks, and healthy snacks will be available for your family at all family events, including, but not limited to Harvest Day, THON 5K, Family Carnival, and THON Weekend. For a full list of events, click the following link: www.thon.org/families/get_involved/events

The Celebration of Life video is created by the THON Family Relations Committee and has become a true cornerstone of THON, honoring the children who have inspired us with their courage, wisdom, honesty, and strength. The video, which is shown Sunday afternoon during Family Hour, is a special time to celebrate the lives of the children who fought the courageous battle against childhood cancer. It serves as a reminder that we must continue the fight for a cure.

Before the video is shared during Family Hour, there will be a private screening of the video for families only. During Family Hour, you can always choose not to view the video by exiting the stage when the Family Relations captains instruct you to.
We do encourage you to watch this video, as it celebrates the lives of those children who fought their battle against cancer with courage, honesty, wisdom, and strength.

Yes. There is so much to do during THON within the BJC, but some families enjoy taking a few hours outside of the BJC to explore downtown State College. See the State College page for some highlights to check out downtown.

If you have a problem THON Weekend, look for anyone wearing a volunteer pin, or a headset. They can alert the appropriate Captain or Overall. Although you should typically communicate with Family Relations, any volunteer is more than capable of helping you out!!

There is a male and female bathroom in the Family Lounge that is reserved solely for Four Diamonds Families. Keep in mind that the bathrooms on the floor level are reserved for dancers, so make sure that make a bathroom trip before going on to the floor.

Yes! No volunteer is allowed in to the Bryce Jordan Center if they are showing any symptoms of sickness. Many sanitary precautions have been taken to ensure that the Bryce Jordan Center is as germ-free as possible.

Yes, the BJC is fully handicap accessible! There are elevators to move from floor to floor, escorts if necessary, and a wheelchair lift to get onto the stage. If you have any additional concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Sean Tucker at family.relations@thon.org.

Passes will be distributed as soon as you walk into the Bryce Jordan Center THON Weekend. Each family’s passes are determined by the number of immediate family members who were written on the family pass system form. Passes for family and friends outside of immediate family members will be awarded on a case by case basis.

All family members who are receiving a pass must be present at the pass table. If members of your family are arriving at different times throughout the weekend, they can pick their passes once they arrive at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Yes — even your kids; however, their passes can be pinned to their back! We ask that you wear your passes at all times during THON Weekend. Wearing your pass helps THON’s volunteers to identify you as a family. The floor pass system also allows us to protect all participants by only allowing pre-approved individuals on the floor and maintaining the floor capacity at safe levels throughout the weekend.

Your family pass permits you to be on the floor for the duration of THON Weekend.

Yes, but please remember that passes are only available for immediate family members. If someone else decides to come to THON that should be awarded a pass, please email Sean Tucker at family.relations@thon.org. As long as you give us an accurate number, we can make sure that we allocate your family the proper number of family passes!

If you see someone breaking a rule, feel free to alert the nearest THON volunteer. They will make sure that the proper person is alerted.

If you know your child is on the dance floor then please come directly to the stage and tell Larry Moore, THON’s DJ. Otherwise, please alert any THON captain or committee member. They will immediately locate those volunteers who will be able to help you find your child.

An EMS Room, with trained personnel, is located on the event level near the stage entrance. For assistance locating this room, you may ask and captain or committee member.

In the event of an emergency, please immediately alert a Rules and Regulations captain or committee member, or anyone with a radio. Rules and Regulations volunteers will be wearing red t-shirts.

The family pass system is in place to ensure the safety of your family THON Weekend! Simply stated, it is a check in and out of the building, so we know where your family is in case of an emergency! Additionally, the pass system helps us to monitor floor capacity to make sure that the floor never becomes too crowded.

As a family, you will be awarded the same number of floor passes as immediate members of your family. If you have any special requests, please forward them to Sean Tucker at family.relations@thon.org.

The Adopt-A-Family program, unique to Penn State Dance MaraTHON, pairs Four Diamonds Families with Penn State Organizations. If you choose to be paired, your family will immediately be assigned to a Penn State organization. This program helps families to feel at home THON Weekend, and gives organizations inspiration to raise money throughout the year! This program will surely enhance your THON experience, and is highly encouraged for all families.

We want you to have a worthwhile and beneficial relationship with the student organization you have been paired with. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please contact Sean Tucker, Family Relations Overall at family.relations@thon.org. It is a huge honor to be paired with a Four Diamonds Family, so if you’re not satisfied with the relationship, please let us know!

We suggest exchanging cell phone numbers with your organization to make it easy to meet up THON Weekend. Many organizations wear specific clothing that makes it easier to find them. If you are having trouble finding your organization’s dancers or members, Family Relations will be more than happy to help you out!

THON’s efforts are supported by 15 Overall Chairpersons, more than 315 Captains, 3,300 Committee Members, and more than 350 Student Organizations! By our calculations, an estimated 15,000 students participate in THON!

That’s up to you! Dancers appreciate things like letters from your family, pins with your children’s faces, fun toys, etc. More than anything, they want to spend time with you!!

Food will be provided for your family throughout THON Weekend. Therefore, you don’t need to bring any money unless you would like to buy merchandise, additional food, or souvenirs downtown.

Although we provide a deadline to register for all of our events, we realize that your families are busy, and will do everything in our power to accommodate to that. It doesn’t hurt to email Sean Tucker at family.relations@thon.org to see if there is still space, but you should not have a problem! We thank you in advance for getting all materials to us in a timely manner!