For more than a decade Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus has worked to raise money through the university's THON dance marathon.
The charity event benefits The Four Diamond Fund, established in 1972 to help families of cancer patients pay for any expenses not covered by insurance.
THON is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world, according to Penn State.
In 1972, fraternity and sorority houses at the University Park campus decided to hold a 10-hour dance marathon for charity.
The marathons evolved from dancing 10 hours to dancing 48 hours, and in all they have raised more than $46 million for the fund.
More than $5.2 million was raised last year alone, when the event involved more than 15,000 students.
The university also reaches out to its 19 satellites, and the Fayette campus has excelled, organizers say.
In the past 10 years, Fayette's THON team has raised more than $376,000 -- more than any other campus. It has been in first place for eight years and in second place twice.
"It's amazing, because we're in one of the poorest counties in the commonwealth," said Chad Long, THON adviser for Penn State Fayette. "That shows how much people here care."
The actual marathon happens in State College, where teams of dancers and motivators see who lasts the longest while standing and dancing for up to two days. But raising money for THON is a year-long operation, with campus teams doing different things to raise funds.
For the Fayette THON team, the biggest money-maker is "canning" -- standing at intersections four weekends each year, walking up and down the line of stopped cars with coffee cans to solicit donations.
Bri Nero of Elizabeth is on the Fayette team. She said the first weekend of canning brought in $6,000, and the second and third weekends each raised more than $5,000.
The team did not reveal this year's total, because it's a surprise to the team until the end of this week.
Other money-raising projects this year included selling advertising space on the back of the team's THON shirt, raffling off a themed basket assembled by various clubs at Penn State Fayette, and selling chances on a guitar from the band Sugar Ray.
Because students donate time, pay for some materials and seek out donations for others, all of the money goes to THON.
"They've been striving toward excellence," said Jon Wik of Washington, Pa., the THON team leader for Penn State Fayette. "Last year was the third most money raised in Fayette history."
Wik said the Fayette campus also won the Spirit Award at State College last year, and he hopes to do well again this year.
He's looking forward to surprising and motivating the dancers on his team as they take part in the marathon, and seeing the motions and emotions they will experience at the event.
"You go from one extreme to the other," Wik said.
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