Roopa Patel is traveling to Hershey this weekend hoping to help raise money for kids with cancer.

Patel, a former Thon dancer and morale and donor relations captain, hopes to meet up with some of the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon families she met during Thon at Penn State at the 4 Miles for Four Diamonds walk this Sunday.

"I miss being involved in Thon," Patel, Class of 2008, said. "This is a way I'll be able to give back to the Four Diamonds Fund and see the Thon families I know who will be attending the event."

The second annual 4 Miles for Four Diamonds Walk will be held at 1 p.m. this Sunday at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center campus.

The Four Diamonds Fund helps children treated at The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

The fund provides those treated at the center with superior care, comprehensive support and innovative research, according to its Web site.

The walk is an event students can attend but is really geared more toward Thon families and other members of the community, said Linda Barry, assistant director of the Four Diamonds Fund.

"A lot of Thon families and people in the community come to the event and are so happy they can participate," she said. "It's great to see the Thon students coming down too because they're actually coming to support the families that their organizations may be matched with."

Thon is the largest donor to the Four Diamonds Fund and has raised more than $50 million to date, Barry added.

Greg Tallman, Thon communications overall, said he's received several e-mails asking for more information about the event.

"I was surprised. I got e-mails from a handful of students," Tallman said. "There are students who have even said they have room in their cars and are offering a spot for anyone who wants to go."

More than 280 people are registered so far, but Barry expects plenty of people to register the day of the event.

She said quite a few people registered the day of for last year's walk.

The Four Diamonds Fund hosts this event in September as a way to introduce those in the community to Thon and try to get them involved, Barry said.

September is also Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, another reason the walk is held in September, Barry added.

Previous participant Jim Harvey (junior-chemical engineering) said the one thing that disappointed him last year was the turnout.

He's hoping to see an increased number of participants this year when he and fellow members of the Red Cross Club take the trip to Hershey.

"Since last year was the first time they held the event, not too many people knew about it. I know we didn't hear about it until a couple days before the walk," he said. "We heard about the walk earlier this year and were able to coordinate more people to go."

The Red Cross club has 27 members going to the walk this year, about five times the amount it had attend last year, Harvey said.

Students can register online to be a participant, Barry said.

If they cannot get to Hershey Medical center campus, they can register as a virtual walker, Barry said.

"Being a virtual walker is a way to support the event if people can't be here to participate," she said. "Friends and family of some of our patients usually sign up to be a virtual walker and they can donate what they want."

To be a virtual walker, a student can sign up online at www.hmc.psu.edu/fourdiamonds/ and will pledge an amount of money to donate to the Four Diamonds Fund.

The donation can be paid by check or credit card and can be any amount, Barry said.

Most virtual walkers that were registered for the event have pledged a minimum of twenty dollars, Barry said.