This weekend, sidewalks throughout Pennsylvania and many other states hosted Penn State students participating in the first canning weekend for the 2007 Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon.

Various organizations participated, including club sports teams, fraternities and sororities. Canning, according to the official Thon Web site, www.thon.org, is short for canister solicitation, and is a fundraising technique that happens four weekends each year before the event in February. All canning trips must be registered, said Megan Kendrick, public relations chairwoman for Thon. Kendrick said there is a Thon internal database where committee members and others involved are registered.

Michael Funk, overall chairman for Thon, said although many of the registered organizations go canning, it is not required.

"It is a large portion of our fundraising," Funk said, adding that official fundraising for Thon began in October.

Some of the groups who participated in this weekend's fundraising efforts were club sports teams.

Kimberly Phillips, president of club softball, said they had 10 girls travel to northeast Philadelphia for a canning trip. Phillips added that the trips' locations are chosen based on where they have club members' families willing to host the groups.

"We go every time and we go somewhere different every time to a different girl's house," she said.

The club field hockey team sent eight girls to Maryland, where they made $1,000 Saturday, team Thon chairwoman Jen Brotman said.

"It's a good way to bond with your team and do something productive," she said.

Fraternities and sororities also use canning weekends to fundraise for Thon. Kyle Winter, Interfraternity Council associate vice president, said canning is one of the major ways the fraternities fundraise for Thon.

Janessa Klahs, the Panhellenic Council associate vice president, said most of the sororities went canning this weekend.

"They all go about raising money for Thon in different ways," she said. When the sororities go canning they stay at the homes of members of the sororities or members of the fraternities they are associated with, she added.

The dates of the remaining three canning weekends are Dec. 8 to Dec. 10, Jan. 26 to Jan. 28 and Feb. 9 to Feb. 11.