Like a rally car in an endurance race, participants in this weekend's Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance marathon required fuel. But in this case, gasoline was not the means of motivation — the driving force was food.

The organization responsible for supplying the edible energy was Thon's social committee, which provided food and beverages for roughly 700 dancers and 200 captains, as well as the bands and sound technicians working at the marathon.

"Basically anyone that provides a service, we feed them," said Alison Zambito, overall social chair.

Zambito said that many businesses donate food. One such business is Subway, which has been helping for more than 15 years, she said.

For 48 straight hours, Thon participants had to stay on their feet. But they weren't the only ones who had to be fed. Committee and family members also needed sustenance, so to help the participants, restaurants throughout the community came out in full force.

Harrison's, 1221 N. Atherton St., donated lunch on Saturday for the captains, as well as food for the corporate sponsors' reception.

Kit Henshaw, co-owner and manager of Harrison's, said her business was happy to help out for Thon.

"It is a really well-done event," she said.

Henshaw also said that although Harrison's is relatively new to the area, the business would continue to help out with the dance marathon.

"We look forward to doing it in the future," she said.

Pizza Hut, 760 S. Atherton St., also aided in the hunger-halting process.

Jerry Weaver, restaurant general manager, said his store donated 80 pizzas Friday night, 80 pizzas Saturday afternoon and 175 coupons for personal pan pizzas.

Weaver said Pizza Hut wanted to be more involved in the community and to help a worthwhile cause.

The committee has implemented several measures to make sure that when the weekend ended nothing that was donated would go to waste.

To conserve any food that was not consumed during the weekend, Zambito said Meals on Wheels would be picking up the leftover food and beverages.

Meals on Wheels is a non-profit organization that provides delivery of free meals to elderly and disabled people who can not cook for themselves.

In addition, all bottles and cans that were used throughout the weekend will be recycled. Although recycling was done somewhat last year, this time it will be done on a much greater scale.