St. Jude Hospital
February 09, 2007
Bowling
Green, Ky. -Western Kentucky University students have raised more than $104,000 in an annual Up ’til Dawn fund-raiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The WKU total is double what was raised in 2006 and ranks third out of 180 colleges participating in Up ’til Dawn, according to Lizzy White, a senior from Nashville, Tenn.
As of Feb. 9, WKU had raised $104,465.70 and could add to the total before the all-night event finale Friday (Feb. 16), said White, this year’s executive director of the Up ’til Dawn project. “We’ve just had a great year,” she said.
Chico State in California leads in Up ’til Dawn fund-raising with nearly $178,000 followed by Gettysburg (Pa.) College at about $119,000. The other schools in the top five are Missouri State with $98,000 and Memphis with about $92,000.
White and Kelly Stinson, assistant executive director, credit participation from 43 campus groups and organizations and a letter-writing campaign with helping boost WKU’s fund-raising total from $52,000 last year. More than 800 students wrote letters that have resulted in donations from about 3,500 people.
“Up ’til Dawn is more of a campus name now,” White said. “If we doubled our fund-raising from last year, there’s no telling how big it’ll get next year and in the future.”
Greek organizations traditionally have participated in Up ’til Dawn, but this year’s participants also have included groups like nursing, honors program, biology, football, religious organizations and Spirit Masters, she said.
About 1,000 people (those who wrote letters or are members of participating groups) are expected to attend Friday night’s Up ’til Dawn finale at the Preston Health and Activities Center. The event begins at 9 p.m. and ends at 5 a.m. Saturday.
The all-night activities include a hypnotist, games and giveaways. Participants will hear from two St. Jude patients and will wear a bracelet with a patient’s name “as a symbol of why you’re staying up all night,” Stinson said.
This year’s fund-raising effort began last summer when White and Stinson visited St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., for a collegiate leadership seminar. While there, they not only learned how to improve WKU’s Up ’til Dawn program but they visited young patients and their families.
“I expected to walk in and be heartbroken. But it’s not like that at all,” said Stinson, a junior from Jeffersonville, Ind., who will be next year’s executive director. “It’s such a happy place. I wish everybody who wrote letters could visit St. Jude hospital because it puts everything in perspective.”
Members of the WKU Up ’til Dawn executive board visited the facility in September and returned more dedicated to boost the fund-raising efforts, White said.
Stinson said White’s leadership this year has been a key to doubling WKU’s fund-raising total. “Her heart is so into it,” Stinson said. “She plans to work at St. Jude someday. She inspiring because you can tell she cares about the organization.”
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact Lizzy White at (270) 791-4480.
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