East Carolinian

Issue date: 2/24/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Elise Phillips

In 2006, several students, faculty and members of the community rallied together to promote St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital at ECU, armed only with a Web site and a goal. Hundreds of students and thousands of dollars later, the ECU Up 'Til Dawn organization hopes to raise funds for the hospital this semester - and all students have to do is eat.

ECU Up 'Til Dawn and Chili's will be teaming up until the end of the spring semester to promote St. Jude's through a flyer campaign. When students bring the Up 'Til Dawn flyer to the Chili's in Greenville on a Wednesday, the restaurant will donate 10 percent of the bill to St. Jude's Hospital, located in Memphis, Tenn. Flyers are posted on campus and can be printed at ECU-UTD.org.

"All you have to do is show up and eat dinner like you normally would and it doesn't cost you anything," said Robert Vance, member of Up 'Til Dawn.

The organization has sponsored fundraisers in the past, including a letter-sending campaign in October that raked in $20,000 from the efforts of approximately 150 ECU students. The campaign focused on ECU students sending letters to friends and family explaining what St. Jude's does and how they could help. In the same month, the group also participated in a canned food drive to raise money for the hospital.

ECU junior Kaela Jennings has been involved in ECU's Up 'Til Dawn group since her freshman year, and says that many students don't even know the group exists, but ECU's group is not alone in their efforts to promote St. Jude's - over 200 colleges and universities participate in Up 'Til Dawn programs across the country.

"Some people think it's weird, they ask why [the group] is called Up 'Til Dawn, but it's a national organization," Jennings, a health education and promotion major, said.

The group's name comes from the idea that students all over the country will host an all-night event to support the children that "fight cancer every day," according the St. Jude's Web site. However, the groups are also called Up 'Til Dawn because they participate in numerous fundraisers throughout the year.

Because of low student turnout from previous all-night events, the ECU Up 'Til Dawn group has decided to do several smaller fundraisers, like the Chili's campaign.

"We tried to do the Up 'Til Dawn event the last two years, but it didn't turn out so well, so this year we decided to rethink it," Jennings said. "We just need people to show up and volunteer and help us. We can't do it ourselves."

Jennings and Vance agree that despite the declining economy, students should participate in Up 'Til Dawn's cause.

"Some people seem to donate anytime, but some are trying to save money, and I understand that - I do it, too," Jennings said.

"The cool thing about this is pretty much from my experience everybody has been touched by cancer in one way or the other, so students should be involved because at some point in their lives, they are going to be touched by cancer at one point or another," Vance said. "St. Jude's is going to affect everybody - the medical strides that they make affects people worldwide. A lot of the cancer research we have today - it doesn't matter what type of cancer, or what race, gender - comes from St. Jude's."

The last day of the Chili's campaign will be April 29.

For more information about St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, visit stjude.org.



This writer can be contacted at editor@theeastcarolinian.com.

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