Hey Atlas!
Welcome back to school and hopefully everyone has had successful move back in! Still hard to believe classes are starting tomorrow. But, despite the drag of school work, we have lots of fun, exciting things coming up for Atlas already!
We’ve already participated in the honors college orientation involvement fair and we have some great freshman who are really excited about becoming involved in Atlas and THON!
Here’s some stuff that’s coming up and some ways for you to get involved right from the start for the THON 2012 season! There’s a pretty big list so check out the stuff you’re interested in!
ForTheKids!
Steve
OUR FIRST MEETING!!! Next Sunday, Aug. 28th at 3 pm! Let’s get ready to GOOOOO! Come out for our first meeting in 102 Forum at 3 pm this Sunday, Aug. 28th! I think we can pack that room so let’s start this year off with a bang and show our new members what we’re all about!
Captain Applications Captain applications a! re now available! If you are thinking of applying for a captain position for an overall committee, check out thon.org and fill out an application! They are due by 5:00 pm sharp on Friday, August 26th so make sure you get them in. Good luck!
Wear Your Atlas Gear this Week! This week we’re doing a lot of recruiting for new Atlas members! To help the Recruitment Committee’s efforts, wear your Atlas shirts and other gear around campus so new members can put faces to the Atlas name on fliers!
Student Involvement Fair this Tuesday! Atlas has a table in the Student Involvement Fair this Tuesday starting at 12:00 pm in the HUB! Come help recruit new members and encourage people new to PSU to come check us out! Don’t forget your pink hats!
I.M. Sports Teams!!!! This year, Atlas would like to put together some I.M. sports teams! We’ve heard people are interested in both softball and flag football this Fall, so if you are interested in either of those two sports, email Jenna (jrn5105@gmail.com) to get on a list! We’re thinking both competitive and co-ed football so there’s something for everyone! NOTE: If you’re interested in softball, email Jenna ASAP because sign-ups need to be in by THIS WEDNESDAY!
Atlas Theme Ideas We’ve had some great ideas for themes so far for the 2012 THON year, but we’re always looking for more! I’m sure you all have great theme ideas so send them over and it could be on our Atlas gear!
DAR Contacts and Raffle Ideas So over the summer, we all had doctor, dentist and all other different types of appointments. Not only that, but a lot of us had summer jobs and internships. These are all great places to use as DAR contacts! Send over some information to Jamie (james.metkus@gmail.com)! Additionally, if you have any ideas or opportunities for things to raffle off this year as an Alternative Fundraiser, let our Fundraising chairs know so we can make it happen and raise some money FTK! Send your ideas to Lindsay (lindsayborgen8@gmail.com)!
IHadCancer.com There is a great community site that a member brought to our attention for people who have fought or been affected by cancer. IHadCancer.com let’s you make a profile and read stories that people have shared to help others through their difficult times. Check it out!
Grab Your Tents for Paternoville! It would be really cool if we could get Atlas people together to do Paternoville! Let us know if you brought a tent up to Penn State and if you’re going home, bring one back with you! This would be so much fun so let’s make this happen!
Hey everyone!
There’s talk that a group of students at Penn State contributed a phenomenal $381,884.97 to an astounding $9.56 million for The Four Diamonds Fund and the fight against pediatric cancer this year……wait a second, that was you guys, wasn’t it?!?!
In all seriousness, I find myself a little lost for words in any attempt to congratulate and thank you all. I have been thinking about you all and THON this entire week, still trying to take in the awesomeness of THON 2011. I am incredibly proud of all of your hard work and even more so, I am incredibly proud of the character of this organization. I honestly don’t think I will ever feel more proud to be a part of a group of people. I won’t say much here, because I want to express my gratitude at the ATLAS MEETING THIS SUNDAY!
The meeting will be this Sunday at 8 pm in 102 Forum like usual. We have so much to share with everyone — cool videos, thank you letters from throughout the THON community, awesome stats, words from our alumni, touching stories, etc. The meeting will be a celebration! I really urge every person who has had any involvement in Atlas to come to the meeting this Sunday. Each of you played a part in the incredible amount of money raised and the lives touched this year, and you deserve to be applauded. I would absolutely love to pack 102 Forum like we did at the first meeting this year!!
If you have received any donations since THON, please bring them to this meeting so that we can turn them in immediately! The money will still be able to go to the Four Diamonds Fund, of course!!!
Also, we will have all merchandise (1st and 2nd Atlas orders, White Out tshirts, Chemowarrior shirts) available to be picked up at the meeting.
Any other questions, please just feel free to ask, as always!
I’ve been insanely happy this week and it’s because I can’t stop thinking about how lucky I am to work with all of you guys. You are all so awesome!!!
See you Sunday!
Hey everyone!
Just wanted to remind you guys that we have a meeting TONIGHT at 7 pm (NOT 8!) in 102 Forum! Please do your best to make it so we can go over some important THON weekend details and we’ll try to keep it pretty short! Also, please bring $7 if you ordered an Atlas White Out t-shirt last week.
This is our LAST meeting before THON, guys!!
See you all tonight!
Hello and happy Thursday!
TODAY is “Pack Your Lunch and Donate $8 to THON!” Day! Hopefully by now you have all seen this event on Facebook, but for anyone who hasn’t, today we’re asking that you donate just $8 to THON instead of spending the approximate $8 you would usually spend on lunch! It’s also just 8 days until THON today! Not only are we asking that everyone in Atlas take just two minutes to do this, but if you guys could also ask your parents and family and ask them to spread the word to their friends and co-workers, that would be great! Take just a minute and copy and paste the event description from Facebook and email it to your parents and family! They can then forward it on to whoever they would like! When’s the last time you called your mom and dad to say hi? Give them a call today and it’ll make their day, and let them know how important THON is to you and how $8 from lots of us can make a real difference in the fight against pediatric cancer! Remember to ask everyone to credit Atlas!! Let’s rack in those $8 donations, guys!
In other news….
Our Atlas Poker Tournament benefiting THON is TONIGHT at 8 pm in Redifer Commons! This is our 3rd year doing this event as it’s always been a big success and a lot of fun in the past! Bring your friends and your poker face tonight for a chance to win $100, a signed Daryll Clark jersey, other great prizes! The cost is just $12 to enter.
TONIGHT is the Date Auction hosted by the Law School’s Phi Delta Phi benefiting Relay for Life! Relay for Life is something that Atlas also became involved in last year after THON as it also raises money in the fight against cancer! The date auction is at the Mezzanine and begins at 7 pm and I’ll be auctioned off : ) If you’re 21 or older, please, please come out tonight! Otherwise, I’ll be all alone being auctioned off at the Mezz. Enough said.
Dancer and Kids Mail is due TODAY on the 3rd floor of the HUB in rooms 324 & 327 by 5 pm! However, as I’m sure many of you are not done your Dancer and Kids Mail, you can still turn it in to us at Sunday’s meeting and next week and we will deliver it ourselves THON weekend. So please continue to make Dancer, Kids, and Stand Mail, especially on your Canning trips this weekend!! (For a description of each of these types of mail and how they should be labeled before being turned in, please see my email from Monday.) Mail is one of the easiest ways we can support our dancers, THON kids, and teammates THON weekend and keep everyone’s spirits up!
Want to win a brand new Suzuki Kizashi, a trip to Europe or a new Dell laptop?! THON raffle tickets are just $5 each and we want to remind everyone in this last week before THON to try to win these awesome prizes being given away! MONDAY is the last day to buy THON raffle tickets and have the money credited to Atlas, so please purchase your tickets by then! Ask family and friends if they would like any raffles, too! That way they’ll be donating to THON while having the chance to win big! Sri and Courtney will also have raffle tickets available to buy at our meeting this Sunday, so bring cash if you would like to buy then!
We will be having an Atlas meeting this Sunday at 7 pm (yes, after Canning!). This is our last Atlas meeting before THON!! I cannot believe that time has come, guys! Please do your best to make it to the meeting and we’ll do our best to keep it relatively short. We have a lot of important details of THON to talk about as a team and a few more things we need to get done next week!
Thank you to everyone who signed up to go Canning this weekend!!! We went from having only 60some Canners signed up on Sunday night to being able to send out over 100 of you guys Canning this weekend! I am so proud that you are all dedicating your weekend to doing even more for THON and I’m thrilled that this team stepped up as it always does. You guys are seriously so awesome and I am so lucky to be your teammate!
Come out to the Mezzanine and/or our Poker Tournament tonight! Be safe, Can your butts off while sporting those pink hats, and have a ton of fun this weekend!!
Hello! IF YOU WOULD LIKE AN ATLAS WHITE OUT T-SHIRT FOR THON 2011, PLEASE READ AHEAD!!
We have an Atlas “White Out” t-shirt that our Atlas stands will wear during a certain time THON Weekend! Attached is the design that will be on the white t-shirt, however it will NOT say “THON 2011” below “Atlas", only “2011". The orange ribbon represents Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia which is the cancer that both Vic and Claire have beat! If you would like one of these t-shirts, you MUST place your order on the google doc by TOMORROW, February 9th at NOON!! We are very sorry that this is so rushed, but t-shirt vendors in the area are extremely busy making all organization’s THON t-shirts and the company needs our order to be placed by tomorrow afternoon so that we have them in time for THON. We will not be able to make any exceptions for orders past noon tomorrow. The t-shirts will be $7 and along with the t-shirt you will also receive a button with a picture of all 4 of our THON children and a ribbon we always wear for Vic & Claire’s fight! We’ll collect money for the shirts NEXT week in the HUB when you come to pick up your t-shirt!
Please help spread the word to your friends in Atlas and tell them to check their email! Bigs — please text your Littles to let them know about this!
If for some reason you have any problems using the google doc, please feel free to call/text Jen Bilski so she can add your name and shirt size to the list before the deadline!
Another important note — one of our members, Mike DePaul, sent all active members of Atlas an e-mail last night about signing up for floor time THON weekend this week in the HUB. Please make sure that you have read that e-mail carefully and that you know which day this week you should come to the HUB to sign up!
Please remember to make Dancer, Kids, and Stand Mail this week!! Dancer and Kids Mail is due this Thursday on the third floor of the HUB in rooms 324 & 327! You can either take it there yourself this Thursday or give it to an Atlas Chair at a committee meeting tomorrow night. If you absolutely cannot finish your mail before then, you can still turn it into us and we’ll delivery it ourselves THON weekend.
Mail can be made for our 10 Atlas dancers (as well as any other dancers you may be friends with!), our four THON children - Victoria, Claire, Will, and Gabe, any THON child in general, and for any Atlas member in our stands! Stand Mail is something new we’re going to try this year! You can make Mail for friends of yours in Atlas and also general Mail that could be for any Atlas teammate of yours! Please turn Stand Mail into an Atlas Chair, NOT the HUB! Mail should just make the person receiving it happy! Whether you know the person well and it’s a personal message, or you don’t know them as well and it’s an encouraging message, or a funny joke or picture, whatever! Remember — do NOT include anything about being sick in Kids Mail! We focus on how happy we are to have the Kids at THON with us!
For Dancer Mail, please write the Dancer’s name and number on the back of the card:
Kim Morgan 271A
Eden Eliff 271B
Steve Topper 272A
Alex Bruce 272B
Vicki Marone 273A
Dave Haneman 273B
Dan Levy 274A
Ashlie Huss 274B
Matt Kapelewski 275A
Mike Russo 275B
For Mail for our THON children (Victoria, Claire, Will, and Gabe) please write the child’s name and “Atlas” on the back of the card. For general Kids Mail for any THON child, you don’t have to write anything on the back of the card.
For Stand Mail, please write the person’s name on the back of the card.
If you haven’t already, sign up to go Canning this weekend by 11:59 tonight! Many of you have stepped up by signing up, and I’m really excited to see how much we can raise this weekend! You don’t want to miss out on any way that you can help, For The Kids, in these last 10 days before THON!!
Thanks guys! Have a great night!
Hey guys!
I just wanted to remind everyone that TONIGHT at 8 pm in 162 Willard is our Meet the Dancers Night! I hope to see a lot of you guys there having a good time getting to know our dancers a little bit better before THON weekend! (If we aren’t in 162 Willard, we’ll have moved to another classroom nearby in Willard…if you can’t find us just give me a call/text!)
Also, the THON weekend committee is meeting TONIGHT at 7 pm in 162 Willard (again, if we’re not in that room exactly, we’re in a classroom nearby). We figured it would make more sense to have our meeting in Willard so that we all don’t have to walk to another building for Meet the Dancers! This should be a pretty quick meeting. I’d like all of our sub-committees to keep the rest of the committee in the loop with what’s going on and to have a chance to ask for help/delegate responsibilities throughout the committee.
Hopefully I’ll see a lot of you tonight! Enjoy the day!
Did you know? Shimmery lipstick often contains fish scales. Weird!
Hey Atlas!
I want to start by saying how extremely proud I have felt of this team in the past few days! Congratulations on another amazingly successful Canning weekend - you guys raised $61,272.14 For The Kids!! You Canned with the same dedication you have throughout the year, this time in freezing cold temperatures, and I am so thrilled and impressed! In case some of you haven’t heard yet, Atlas also raised its MILLIONTH dollar as an organization over the 3rd Canning weekend! Six years ago when four guys living in Atherton Hall decided to create a new THON organization, they had no idea the heights it would reach and the reputation it would gain in such a short time! Just think, our team has been able to give over one million dollars to the Four Diamonds Fund, helping families and fighting pediatric cancer. You should all feel extremely proud of the difference you are making in people’s lives.
The energy at our most recent meeting was just incredible! When I stand in that room with all of you I can feel your passion and enthusiasm. We have just 17 days until THON! Keep up all of your hard work and remember now more than ever why we THON!! Read on so you can continue to do all that you can in these next few weeks!
Sign ups for the final Canning weekend, February 11th - 13th, are now open! You can sign up on our Angel group like usual. If you are new to Atlas or Canning and you’d like more specific instructions on how to sign up, just send me an email letting me know and I’ll be happy to help! Remember, we are always in need of drivers and hosts so if you can help out with either of those, please do! Also, please remember that you can only sign up with one friend. If you request more than one friend, it won’t be guaranteed and you will make Steve unhappy : )
Everything Atlas has done this year, you guys have done bigger and better than we ever have in the past. Let’s finish out this THON season exactly the same way by sending WAY more Canners out on the last Canning weekend than ever before! We are leaders within the THON community. Let’s show everyone how much we can do For The Kids on this last Canning weekend, the weekend right before the celebration of THON! Wooooo, I’m excited just thinking about the possibilities!
Atlas is sponsoring a THON blood drive this Thursday in the HUB! Donating blood is an excellent way to support those fighting cancer and others in need. $4 will be donated to Atlas for every presenting donor who signs in with Atlas! Tell friends (and strangers!) to sign in with Atlas, too!
You get free pizza after donating and stickers that let everyone know how wonderful you are for donating! If you would like to make an appointment ahead of time for Thursday, you can do so here. If you can’t make it this Thursday, you can still credit $4 at any blood drive leading up to THON!
Next Monday, February 7th, is Meet the Atlas Dancers Night! The location will be announced shortly. We’ll be introducing each dancer and everyone can ask them some questions so that you have the chance to get to know our dancers better! That way you’ll be able to make more personalized dancer mail for them and you’ll feel comfortable hanging out with and supporting them THON weekend! (We’ll have all of the supplies needed to make Dancer Mail!) This should be a lot of fun, don’t miss it!
We’re going bowling with one of our THON families, the Smiths, this Saturday from 12:30 - 2:30 pm! Victoria loves to bowl and the Smiths are really looking forward to spending time with us before THON! The cost will be no more than $5 per person. If you would like to come, please sign up on this googledoc.
Eli Sidler is a THON child sometimes known for his awesome performances with his Dad THON weekend. Eli’s cancer has recently returned for the fourth time. Eli is clearly a very brave fighter and likes to call himself the Chemowarrior! Atlas is lucky to have both of our THON children healthy now, but we must not forget to support all Four Diamonds children as they need it. Take a few minutes to watch this video about Eli: . You can also follow Eli’s CarePage and write him notes to let him know that he has even more Penn State friends thinking of and supporting him! After signing in, you can search “chemowarrior” if the link doesn’t take you directly to his page.
Come win an autograph from the NFL Defensive Player of the Year! We’re selling Troy Polamalu signed football raffle tickets all week in the HUB from 1 - 2 pm! We also have the Super Bowl Block Pool spots being sold this week in the HUB 1 - 2 pm. Blocks are $3 and there is a $75 prize for the winner!! Tell your friends about these fundraisers, too! We need your help to make these a big success!
Atlas will also be selling beautiful roses at a great price on Valentine’s Day and all proceeds will go to THON, so remember to buy your Valentine roses from us!
Attention Seniors! If you have not already donated your $100 deposit to our Senior Class Gift, consider donating a portion or all of your deposit to Atlas! For example, I donated half of my deposit ($50) to our Senior Class Gift and the other half ($50) to Atlas! This takes just one minute to complete. Thanks!
Have a great night and a wonderful Wednesday!
Meg
Hey guys!
I just wanted to remind everyone that we have an Atlas meeting tomorrow night, Sunday, January 30th at 8 pm in 102 Forum!
We’ll be discussing this more at the meeting, but there will be an opportunity tomorrow night to purchase a t-shirt representing a THON child’s fight against cancer for his fourth time. His name is Eli, and his organization is selling the shirts for $10 and asking people to take fun pictures in their shirts to send to Eli to brighten his days! The money from the t-shirt sales will be donated to THON. If you think you might be interested, please bring $10 cash with you to the meeting tomorrow night so that you can order a shirt!
Also, if anyone has plastic bottles or uncrushed cans to contribute to our Four Diamonds Recycling Effort, please bring them to the meeting ALREADY SEPARATED (i.e., make sure all plastic bottles are in one bag and uncrushed cans are in another bag).
If you have not yet picked up your Atlas merchandise, it will be available at tomorrow night’s meeting.
Can’t wait to reveal how much money you guys raised FTK this past weekend!! I hope to see you all tomorrow night!
First, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who went Canning this past weekend! It was freezing outside, yet hundreds of you braved the cold for hours collecting money For The Kids. I know that we all woke up really early, probably didn’t get much sleep, and that many of you are still trying to warm up from this weekend. It was a challenging weekend, but this was just one more opportunity for you guys to show your dedication and passion for THON and I am so proud of and thankful for all of you!!
I just wanted to remind everyone that the THON Weekend Committee is meeting for the first time TONIGHT at 7 pm in 18 Henderson! Please come out and help us plan all things Atlas for THON weekend! We’ll need lots of you to step up as leaders and lots of great ideas!
This week is THON Awareness Week and today we’ve been asked to show our Atlas pride and wear our Atlas gear! So throw on anything Atlas and help spread excitement about THON today! There will be a bunch of fun THON stuff going on as you walk through the HUB today as well!
Remember that you can buy THON Raffle tickets in the HUB throughout the week from 10 am - 3 pm at a table on the level with the Big TV! Tickets are just $5 and you can use cash, LionCash, or credit cards. Don’t forget that you can credit the $5 for each ticket to Atlas for our THON 2011 total! You could win a 2010 Suzuki Kizashi, a Dell laptop, a trip to Europe, and much more while donating to Atlas at the same time!! Tell your friends and family, too!
I hope to see lots of Atlas shirts around today and a lot of you at the THON Weekend Committee meeting tonight!
Hey everyone!
First, I want to congratulate our Atlas members who will be representing Atlas as dancers for THON 2011 — Dan Levy, Kim Morgan, Vicki Marone, Matt Kapelewski, Alex Bruce, Steve Topper, Ashlie Huss, Eden Eliff, Mike Russo, and Dave Haneman! You will all do an amazing job representing the genuine passion, selfless dedication, and tireless efforts in the fight against pediatric cancer that define Atlas.
Second, today and tomorrow are the only days to order Atlas merchandise if you have not already. We will be in the HUB at a table on the Panda Express level by the doors that exit out to the HUB lawn from 11:30 am - 2 pm today and tomorrow (Thursday and Friday). You can place your merchandise order and pay for your order all at once at the HUB.
We also have a really exciting alternative fundraiser going on right now — an American Apparel Sale! This is a great opportunity to get American Apparel clothes at a discount AND support THON! Click here to place an order. Please, please invite all your friends to the facebook event so that this can be a really huge success FTK!!!
Don’t forget to buy and/or sell to your friends and family, our Troy Polamalu signed football raffle tickets! See Matt Kapelewski or Mark Wood to obtain tickets; they’re $5 each or 5 for $20.
Lastly, if you’re going Canning this weekend, you should have either already heard from your Canning Captain or should hear from them sometime today. If this is not the case, contact Steve. Get excited to Can your butts off this weekend!!
Have a great Thursday! For The Kids, For Victoria Smith, For Claire Brobson,