Motivation for the dancers and captains in this year's Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon (Thon) will fill a Penske moving van.

This Thursday, Thon organizers will work until midnight to unload the van filled with letters and packages for this year's participants.

Public Relations Chair Jaci Christopher said the mail call -- a traditional Thon event -- is meant to boost the dancers' energy throughout the weekend, especially at times when dancers are tired.

"It comes from family and friends to show their support, and it keeps [the dancers] excited," Christopher (senior-public relations) said.

Mail Call Captain Emily Black said people could send dancers e-mail messages through the Thon Web site, thon.org, but regular mail is encouraged.

"People can decorate it, put pictures in it," Black (senior-international students) said. "It's a whole lot more involved than an e-mail because we just print [the e-mails] off."

Ben Hammel (junior-information sciences and technology) danced in Thon last year and said the mail he received helped him get through the weekend.

"It was really nice because I got letters from people from home, people on campus, people from my organization," he said. "I got mail from people I didn't even know knew I was dancing."

Hammel said it's nice to receive little things like yo-yos and bubbles to play with because mail call comes at times of exhaustion during the weekend.

"Mail call comes late in Thon and gives you something to focus on," he said. "When I didn't have something to focus on, it got tiring."

Black said that two morale teams totaling nearly 70 people have been sorting the mail for the past two weeks.

"There are 700 dancers and 250 captains, and everyone gets probably 10 pieces of mail and a minimum of one package on average," she said. "But there are some organizations that will flood their dancers with like 30 cards."

Amanda Nimick, a Thon co-chair for Golden Key, said the honor society sends a lot of mail to its dancers to keep their spirits up.

"Usually we'll have a meeting, and we'll have the members stay after with construction paper and glitter pens to write notes," Nimick (senior-special education) said.

Nimick said the group also puts together packages with bouncy balls and crossword puzzles to keep the dancers going.

"It just helps out because [the dancers] remember that there are people behind them," she said. "They get tired and they forget why they are doing it, and this can help them get through the last day."

Kimberly Snow, a Circle K Thon chair, said her service organization is sending its dancers some foot lotion for their aching feet and a 1,000-piece puzzle to construct in the middle of the night.

"We tried to keep things in mind that would cheer them up and make them happy," (sophomore-communications) said.

Christopher said all dancer mail must be received by today in 216 HUB-Robeson Center.