Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things

I am amazed at the level of support and dedication that "the people" have expressed in their work to make a difference to fight cancer and put an end to this terrible disease. The concerted effort by the students of Penn State, the alumni, and all those associated with @THON has been impressive to observe and to be a part of. THON is truly an inspiration to all charitable groups trying to make a difference in the lives of others.

Our recent sponsorships provide additional examples of how "ordinary people can do extraordinary things". Andrea Miller http://(@spareohhs) and Michele Jakoboski (@sj214) recently agreed, independently, to be the sponsor for our site, @abolishcancer. If you don't know how it works, a sponsor agrees to pay the charitable organization (in this case THON) $1 for every new follower of our site on a particular day. What's impressive of Andrea and Michele 's agreement to sponsor, is the fact that they were following in the footsteps of @PatHowley's sponsorship that drew worldwide attention to THON with celebrities such as Khloe Kardashian and others tweeting about the cause. In fact, at the end of the day, Pat had "committed" $1,734 to THON. (as a side note Pat took this as a challenge and ended up getting over $7,000 in monies to contribute)


So it would be obvious to say that anyone following in Pat's shoes would be quite intimidated. Instead of fearing such a committment, both Andrea and Michele agreed to sponsor with the understanding that they could only commit to a certain amount of followers and money ($200). The result? After both sponsorships were over, @abolishcancer received over 300 new followers, @THON received several hundred more dollars in donations, and the message of making a difference in the lives of children went viral and was seen and retweeted by hundreds if not thousands of people.

Whether it's a small donation, a day of volunteering, or a concerted effort to rally people together, Pat, Andrea and Michele are examples that individuals can make a difference and that ordinary people CAN do extraordinary things.

We will continue to keep this global revolution alive and to turn the dream into a reality to @abolishcancer once and for all.

"Power of the People, through Twittter, to @abolishcancer"

-Darah