The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) wants to remind students, "Pick up the phone, Don't walk alone!"

To promote Penn State's Security Escort Service, 865-WALK, USG and Dante's Inc. will host a show tonight at the Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave., to raise money for the program.

"865-WALK is great program, but no one really knows about it," USG Public Relations Director Jacqueline Berchielli said. "Some fraternity houses only have a small piece of paper with the phone number written on it."

Though it has been in danger of termination, the program is now working to stay in service.

"[865-WALK] is one of the better programs on campus and one of the more under-utilized," USG Vice President Luke Adams said. "We saw a need and figured we needed to get it out there."

The promotional show, which will last from 9:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., will feature the bands IN, Tokyo Vertigo and Panacea. Other than garnering publicity for the program, proceeds from the $5 cover charge will fund advertisements and improvements of 865-WALK. "The bands will play cover music from the '80s, '90s and today's hottest hits," Berchielli said. The play list will include "Toxic" by Britney Spears, "Down Under" by Men at Work, and "I Want You to Want Me" by Cheap Trick, she added.

Berchielli said every person who attends the show will receive a business card with the service's phone number.

Pam Gerber, victim/witness advocate and co-supervisor of the Security Escort Service, said the university began the program in 1989 as a strictly volunteer service, and it eventually evolved into a year-round program that operates from dusk until dawn. "The basic philosophy has always been that we don't want people to be unable to participate fully in college life for fear that they don't have a safe way to get from point A to point B," she said.

Gerber said that with only three or four walkers each night, the service is slowly dwindling in popularity. "In 1989, we got about 6,000 calls a year," Gerber said. "There has been a gradual decline to about 1,000 calls a year."

Gerber said she credits the decrease in calls to the rise of cell phones, the free Loop services and better lighting on the streets. "Typically the college-aged group is not usually particularly concerned with safety," she said. "But even if we have limited usage, many people still regularly use [865-WALK]. I still look at the calls sheet, and I can see we get new users fairly regularly."

Dave Wells, the owner of Dante's Inc., said he decided to partner with USG because he thought the cause was important enough that some organizations had to help students move the initiative forward.

"I was so surprised that according to [USG] there was no funding available for this program," Wells said. "This can only add to the positive atmosphere in State College."

Wells said there are more events in the coming weeks to raise money to promote 865-WALK at The Saloon, 101 Hiester St., and Bar Bleu, 114 S. Garner St.