St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a non-profit organization held very near and dear to many people's hearts. Almost everyone has been affected by cancer in some way. The cure for the disease is something that many yearn for, and St Jude fights tirelessly to discover it.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a world leader in the research of catastrophic childhood diseases and freely shares all of their research with hospitals around the world. Because the hospital does not require any of its patients to pay a single bill while undergoing treatment, the cost to run it must come from donations alone. The daily cost to run the hospital is upwards of $2 million. That's a lot of money.
In order to raise the amount of funds required for the hospital to continue doing fabulous work, they hold many different events to encourage donations. One of these is called Up 'til Dawn and is held at hundreds of college campuses across the country.
St. Jude Up 'til Dawn is a student-led program in which college students raise funds for and awareness of St. Jude. Teams of six fundraise through various events during the year. Each participant must raise $100, or teams must raise $600, in order to gain entrance to the all-night challenge. Throughout the challenge, teams compete in a variety of activities. The program strengthens the campus community by encouraging faculty, staff and surrounding community residents to participate in the arranged fund-raising campaigns and awareness days. Up 'til Dawn's final event attempts to unite the entire campus and surrounding community to acknowledge their achievements and honor patients at St. Jude, an event at which students stay “Up 'til Dawn,” using the motto “Fight the yawn, stay awake to cure childhood cancer.” The students’ motto is “cancer doesn’t sleep, so neither should we.” The program is called “Up 'til Dawn” to symbolize the countless nights that parents stay up with their sick children.
This past Saturday morning from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. students at LSU gathered together in the UREC for the big event. They played games, watched videos, heard testimonials, and drank plenty of coffee. Their hard work paid off and they raised over $64,000. Congratulations, y'all! The kids and families at St. Jude really appreciate it!
