Alpha Zeta Alum Prepares for Run to Benefit THON

Thanks to the generous donations of his family and friends, Joel Smith has been selected to run in Hope Express, a 135-mile run where participants take turns running from the Hershey Medical Center to the Bryce Jordan Center, just in time for THON. The fundraising event benefits the Four Diamonds Fund.

You can still make donations to help Joel’s cause at his page on the Hope Express website: Hope Express. Joel was a dancer for Alpha Zeta at the 2013 THON, which had been a dream of his even before being accepted to Penn State.

Joel even passed along his enthusiasm for THON and the Four Diamonds Fund to his family. His father, Dave Smith, serves as the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association. When looking for a unique way to help celebrate the association’s 60th anniversary this year at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, Dave immediately thought of the organization about which his son is so passionate.

Dave pledged a $10,000 donation from the association to support the Four Diamonds Fund. The announcement was made on January 3 at the Farm Show, where Dave was joined by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary George Greig and several Four Diamonds families, one of which is a farming family from the Lebanon area.

 

 

The crowd celebrated the donation with milkshakes, which have been the association’s main source of income since 1954. Funds from milkshake sales support several dairy scholarships and youth programs across Pennsylvania.

Watch for an update about Joel’s experience in our THON recap in the March e-letter.