Correction appended: Sept. 26, 2012.
This year’s Blue Out event is expected to have raised more funds to support child abuse prevention than last year’s total of $47,000, according to Laura March, one of the event’s founders.
Over $12,000 was raised at Saturday’s football game against Temple from canister solicitation efforts alone, said Kristen Houser, the vice president of communications and development for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape. The exact amount raised from the Blue Out will be announced in the next few weeks.
Blue Out T-shirts — the color blue representing child abuse awareness — were available for purchase in recent weeks and cans were placed at the gates to raise funds for PCAR.
Houser said she is incredibly grateful for all students that volunteered their time and came out during the football weekend to support PCAR. She also said the student body in general was “energized and excited” for the event.
March ran a table outside of the stadium and distributed information to raise awareness of child abuse. She said she is proud of the positive response from students and their active participation.
“It was a wonderful experience for the Penn State community to come together and raise awareness for child abuse,” March said.
The Blue Out was established in 2011 by Penn State students March (graduate-art education and instructional systems) and Stuart Shapiro in response to the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse case. The Blue Out focuses on child abuse awareness and the impact child abuse can have on individuals and communities.
Last Saturday, the Blue Out brought the Penn State family together when many people who attended the game wore blue to raise awareness for the cause.
The Blue Out was created on the principles of “One Team. One School. One Heart. One Promise. The Penn State Family remains dedicated to making things right,” according to the Facebook page.
The Penn State student organization One Heart focuses on raising funds and awareness in order to prevent child abuse.
One Heart was at the Blue Out to serve as an outreach for the community and as a medium for child abuse information, according to its Facebook page. The group also tried recruiting more student members for their organization at the event.
One Heart got the women’s ice hockey team involved with canning at the gates.
Rachel Novosad, a representative from One Heart, said she hopes that the Blue Out becomes an annual tradition at Penn State football games. Novosad said that One Heart is taking over the organization of the Blue Out event and plans on continuing the Blue Out tradition.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the total raised in the 2011 “Blue Out” game. Last year’s “Blue Out” raised $47,000, including T-shirt sales and funds raised from canning. The above article reflects the correct information. The Daily Collegian apologizes for this error.
