Charitable Knitting Entrepreneur, Alison Willie

HC: What made you so passionate about fighting cancer?

Alison: When I was in fifth grade, my maternal grandfather was diagnosed with kidney cancer, and when I was in sixth grade my Dad was also diagnosed with kidney cancer, which really inspired my family to step up and make a difference for other people affected by this same rare disease.  

HC: How did you connect to the Penn State football team?

Alison: When I was in seventh grade my mom heard about the Penn State football team’s fundraiser for kidney cancer through the Kidney Cancer Association. The football team is the largest fundraiser for kidney cancer, so we decided to contact the team to get involved. We contacted the football department and wrote ten letters to ten players and that sparked our initial connection to the team. Now my family keeps in contact with all of the players so that they know a family who has been affected by kidney cancer.

HC: Briefly describe your efforts in the fight against kidney cancer.

Alison: The summer after seventh grade, my family and I attended Lift For Life (the football team’s fundraiser for kidney cancer) for the first time. In eighth grade I started a knitting project to knit scarves to be sold for 20 dollars a piece at Penn State with 100 percents of the proceeds going to kidney cancer research. To date our scarves have raised 24,000 plus dollars for kidney cancer research! They are currently being sold in McLanahan’s on College Ave. and they donate 100 percent of the sales.

HC: What made you want to extend your efforts to your involvement in THON?

Alison: I have watched THON from home online with my family for the last few years so I knew that I wanted to get involved when I got to campus. I applied and interviewed to be on a Hospitality committee which was a great experience! I am so thrilled that I chose to get involved as a freshman.

HC: What’s your favorite thing about Penn State?

Alison: My favorite thing about Penn State is the sense of community. So many people have reached out to me and my family after hearing our story, which has really shown me what a caring community this is. I think that THON also shows a deep commitment from the students to use their own power to do good to make a huge difference in the world.