While St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is miles away, Up ‘Til Dawn is looking to bring the heart of the hospital to campus with its annual Awareness Week, starting Sept. 21 through Sept. 25.
On Tuesday, there will be a Zumbathon at the Student Recreation Center on the basketball courts, taught by fitness instructor Noreli Mendez. Admission to the cardio dance event is $5, with all proceeds going to St. Jude.
Thursday, Up ‘Til Dawn will have its first FUNDathon of the semester in the University Center Ballroom at 6:00 pm. Potential and already formed teams will be sending emails to family and friends from the online fundraising center in hopes of receiving donations. Students are advised to bring their laptops. There will be free corndogs for the first 100 students, and 100 Sonic coupon books to be sold for $5 each. There will also be a DJ and games.
Throughout the week there will be other campaigns to raise awareness for the collegiate fundraising efforts and team recruitment such as patient cards and a Pass It On initiative. A table will be set up in the University Center all week between the hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to answer questions and guide students through the registration process.
Executive Director Hunter Ralston urges students to join in the fundraising efforts, saying, “St. Jude needs the support from communities everywhere to perform miracles every day. UTM students are passionate in every philanthropy effort, and so I want to motivate them to spread the mission of St. Jude. We are a huge part of saving children’s lives so that they can go to college just like we do.”
If Awareness Week does not allow for some students to create teams in time, there is still hope. There will be a table set up in the University Center, again, on Tuesday, Sept. 29. For anyone that is still interested in forming a fundraising team, there will be board members at the table to answer questions and get team profile pages set up on the UTD website.
So far, Up ‘Til Dawn’s fundraising efforts have paid off in a huge way. Between the organization’s Zaxby’s Giveback Night and Soybean donations, Up ‘Til Dawn has raised $1,362.04, and this is not including the executive board’s fundraising.
