Mention Penn State student organizations that do charitable work and the one that is usually thought of first is THON. It makes sense since THON is, after all, the largest student-run philanthropy in the world and has raised more than $127 million for the Four Diamonds Fund since 1977.
A look at other clubs and organizations, however, finds that besides helping kids with cancer, Penn State students are making a positive impact on many others in various ways and in locations around the world. According to the Penn State Student Affairs’ Web site, the campus has more than 1,000 organizations, and 56 fall under the “Philanthropic” category, with another 41 under the “Service” category.
The following are just a few examples of how Penn State students are helping to support great causes beyond what happens in the Bryce Jordan Center each February.
A special fashion show
One minute, a student with a huge smile walks confidently in front of an audience and shows off the clothes they are wearing. The next minute, students who aren’t smiling come in front of the audience holding signs that read “1 in 4 women
will be victims of domestic violence” and “Women ages 20-24 are at greatest risk.”
This unique fashion show is put on by Sisters On The Runway, an organization founded in 2005 by three sophomores at Montclair High School in New Jersey. The organization’s mission is “to raise awareness and funds for women and children currently residing in domestic violence shelters.”
In July 2014, Penn State students Layla Taremi and Lauren Shearer founded the Penn State chapter for Sisters On The Runway. In April 2015, the chapter held its first fashion show at the Business Building. Through that and other fundraising efforts, including a Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event that has been held each of the past two falls and has participants (both men and women) walk a mile wearing women’s high heels, the Penn State chapter has raised nearly $2,000 for the Centre County Women’s Resource Center.
Taremi, who is the chapter’s president, also started a Sisters On The Runway chapter at her high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when she was a student there.
“Domestic violence is present everywhere,” says Taremi, who is a junior majoring in marketing. “I’ve seen it with friends and just people I know. I know it’s a huge issue … there are so many people who could be one of those [affected by it].
“After passing my position as president of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School to an extremely dedicated member, I quickly learned that the organization has a deeper meaning to her. Her mother was in a severely abusive relationship and had a near-death experience.”
The between 30 and 40 active members of the Penn State chapter meet every Monday evening when classes are in session. As of early January, a location and date for this year’s fashion show hadn’t been determined, but Taremi says they want the show to attract more people and raise more money and awareness for the cause.
It’s a cause she plans to continue to help even after she graduates from Penn State.
“Tears come to my eyes when I notice people joining us in the fight against domestic violence that you may not expect,” she says. “It is such a great feeling to know SOTR is directly impacting the lives of women and children in Centre County and spreading awareness to a community of college students who don’t normally hear about the issue.”
Helping kids elsewhere
Amelia Browning was a pre-med student when she took a trip to the Dominican Republic and Haiti during spring break last year. Going as a member of Penn State’s chapter of the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC), she returned home realizing that she didn’t want to be a doctor anymore.
“The trip made me realize there were larger issues with just health care and health-care systems in general, and global perspectives on health care,” says Browning, a junior and now the chapter president. “I think if I had not been in FIMRC and not been in that intimate setting with people … I would have never had that perspective on it.”
She has since switched her major to health policy and administration.
Founded in 2002, FIMRC is “dedicated to improving the health of families in the developing world through the implementation of innovative and self- sustainable health-improvement program.” Penn State became a FIMRC chapter seven years ago.
Each spring break, several members of the club go to one of eight countries FIMRC helps with health services. At the start of each school year, members vote on which country they will visit. This spring break, Browning and other members will travel to Nicaragua.
“You realize how lucky we are to have the resources we do and that certain countries don’t have the infrastructure to be able to provide the quality health care that their citizens need,” Browning says. “For me, seeing that firsthand … it was heartbreaking.”
Vice president Ana Luiza San Martin, also a health policy and administration major, visited Costa Rica her freshman year and also went to the Dominican Republic and Haiti last year. She remembers seeing how Haitians in need of medical care were treated — or rather, not treated — when they came to a medical center in the Dominican Republic. The two countries have had a long-standing conflict with each other.
“Dominicans get the priority treatment and the Haitians went to the end of the line, no matter how sick they were or what they needed,” she says.
Browning adds, “I remember one lady who brought her infant in, and he had been crying blood. Because they thought she was Haitian, they didn’t give her priority care.”
Much of what the student do involves educating the citizens of the country they’re visiting — they explain the importance of washing hands, brushing teeth, and cleaning cuts.
When it comes to the Penn State chapter, Browning says it has 283 students on its mailing list. For fundraisers, the members do bake sales and Yankee Candle sales. They also accept donations.
“People don’t know who we are, and we come across as geared to pre-med students. It deters a lot of people who might actually enjoy it,” she says. “We worked on fixing that this year, and it’s gone pretty well.”
She says the group has started to attract students from various majors, including accounting and history.
“I wanted to be in a club that was small and one I really could get involved in and see the impact, rather than watch other people,” she says. “I care a lot about the cause. … I want to build up this club so after graduation it doesn’t just drop.”
Small thanks to those who serve
Each month in Room 106 of the Business Building at Penn State, about 20 students gather and stuff empty boxes with small items such as snacks, activity books, magazines, toiletries, and more. The boxes are then mailed out to countries around the world, including Japan, Kuwait, North Korea, and countries in the Middle East.
The Dear Hero Program sends out between 30 and 50 of these filled boxes each month to US military members who are deployed. They offer reminders to those military members that people back home are thinking about them and appreciate their service.
“Honestly, it’s become the greatest passion I’ve ever had,” says senior Lauren Kirch, who is the club president. “I never loved anything so much or cared about anything so much.”
The Dear Hero Program at Penn State started in 2010 by the girlfriend of an active-duty Marine. While Jesse Exum had been sending her Marine boyfriend letters and care packages, she learned that other Marines who were with him would receive nothing during their deployment. She was inspired to show those other Marines that their service was appreciated, as well.
Kirch, who has friends in the military, joined the club her freshman year. She was searching through all the clubs at
Penn State and “stumbled onto this one by coincidence. I thought, ‘This sounds like a really good cause.’ ”
She became the club’s secretary her sophomore year and was vice president last year.
Many of the items that are put in the care packages are donated, but Kirch also will purchase items. The club raises money by doing bake sales, partnering with local restaurants that give a portion of a customer’s bill back to the club if the customer presents a club flier, and selling random items such as patriotic sunglasses. The club also held a dodgeball tournament that raised some money.
Occasionally, the club will receive Thank You notes from those who receive a package. Two years ago, members in a Navy unit that had received a package made a plaque for the group.
Besides the care packages, club members visit the James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center in Altoona each month to spend time with veterans.
“We play Bingo with some World War II vets, and it can get crazy intense,” Kirch says. “We help decorate there for the holidays and make goodie bags for Halloween. Sometimes we just talk to them.”
Kirch is looking for more ways the club can help people who have served or are serving.
“I keep trying to look things up,” she says. “There was something about lost Purple Hearts and trying to return them to the families they belong to. I don’t know how that happens but I want to do that. I saw something about building homes for veterans, and I was like, ‘A bunch of college kids can do that!’ I want to get more involved in the community that way. … I want this club to survive and keep going after I’m done. It would be great if it got even bigger. It will never be as popular as THON, but at least if it gets recognized by some of the students.”
Special friendships
When Sammy Costa joined the Penn State chapter of Best Buddies, he didn’t become too involved with the program that pairs students with people in the community who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. Then, the summer before his sophomore year, he went to a leadership conference for Best Buddies International at the University of Indiana — and everything changed.
“It completely changed my whole view on everything,” says Costa, a junior majoring in security and risk analysis. “Half the population there had a disability, but everyone was treated the same. It was an environment I had never been a part of. … Everyone was so nice to each other. It was cool to see the effect they had. People got on stage and talked about their buddy.”
Costa is now president of Best Buddies at Penn State. He has two buddies himself — an engaged couple in their late 50s, Rosie and Corey.
While the goal of the organization is to pair one student with one person in the community, the Penn State chapter usually has two or three students with a person in the community. The chapter works mostly with Strawberry Fields to find people in the community who can become a buddy.
“I think this has really had more of an effect on the students,” Costa says. “Unless you’ve been around someone who had a disability, and I hadn’t before this, you don’t know. You think they’re so much more different than you, but you find out you have more similarities than differences. It’s just like any other friendship.”
The club holds a few events where all the students and buddies come together, including an annual Buddy Ball held in December at the Phi Psi fraternity house. Mostly, however, it’s students setting up times with their buddies to get ice cream or go to the movies or other activities.
When Costa was a freshman, the club had around 40 members. It now has between 90 and 100.
“We began this year going to all the involvement fairs, and we hung up a banner on campus,” he says. “Mostly, it’s been word of mouth.”
Even after students graduate, many remain friends with their buddies. When he graduates, Costa says he’d like to be involved in a “buddy” program for people who are out of high school and college.
While he is a student at Penn State and the club president, he hopes to keep expanding the club to include more people — more students and more buddies in the community.
“I know more people in the community with disabilities that aren’t in the program,” he says. “I’d love to see everyone get involved. I talk to so many people who have no idea about it or have never heard of it. I’d like everyone to have heard of it.
“The main goal of the club is inclusion for everyone. We hope that message gets spread around. The most rewarding part of it is to see that happening.”
