Story by Amy Turner, Contributing writer
Today and tomorrow mark national recruitment days for Up ‘Til Dawn, a student-led and student-run organization committed to raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Campuses nationwide that are involved with Up ‘Til Dawn are hosting recruitment efforts this week. Today kicked off the recruitment campaign and was celebrated with Dunk for a Cure. Students who visited the tent set up outside of the Carr Health building could register for the Up ‘Til Dawn event on Feb. 23 of this upcoming year and get a chance to dunk a friend into a tank of water.
Students who register for the event will be given resources to continue fundraising, up until the event in February. Tomorrow the Up ‘Til Dawn tent will be set up in the same location giving out chips and queso from Qdoba. The event is called “Queso for a Cure.”
Megan Homme, senior from Chesterton, Indiana, is the public relations director for Up ‘Til Dawn. She joined three years ago when the event was brought to campus.
“It is a really good cause,” said Homme, “One child saved at St. Jude is hundreds of children saved around the world.”
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is a research hospital that freely dispenses and shares their findings. On their website www.stjude.org, there is a place to browse their research and donate to the cause. The motto for the hospital is “Finding cures, saving children.”
Other fundraising attempts throughout the year include t-shirt sales but most of the fundraising comes through the National Recruitment Days.
Chandler Dunn, junior from Mayfield, Kentucky and recruitment director for Up ‘Til Dawn said she got involved with the organization last year and is serving her first term on executive board this year.
“It’s such a great experience as a student to raise all this money and be apart because it’s such a great cause,” said Dunn.
Students who choose to register during the two recruitment days will register online and receive a link. This link is then sent out by the student to raise $100. Successful students are eligible to attend the Up ‘Til Dawn event in February and stay up all night. It starts at midnight and will consist of games, contests, food and more.
Social media is a popular way to send out the donation link. Dunn explained that often students will also email the link to older family members or church members who are not part of the social media demographic. While students are required to raise the initial $100, students are encouraged to raise more.
The organization’s chapter at Murray State has already raised over $2,000 for St. Jude. Dunn said they registered about 73 students today as of 2:45 p.m. The goal for the event and organization is to register around 500 students.
Up ‘Til Dawn recruits students by talking at Greek life meetings, as sororities and fraternities play a huge role in the organization. They also speak at residential college meetings in hopes of increasing the amount of people who attend the event as well as their financial gift to St Jude.