MC students raise money for St. Jude’s
Up ‘til Dawn is a fundraising campaign designed to provide college students across America with a fun way to raise funds for children at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Junior Haleigh Smith is leading the charge to reinvigorate the school’s chapter of Up ‘til Dawn.
Smith, the Executive Director of Up ‘til Dawn on MC’s campus, led a team of 25 MC students to raise over $3,000 through the campaign this year. The funds raised through our student’s efforts will benefit children and their families at St. Jude who are battling cancer and other life threatening illnesses.
“These funds will help to ensure that families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food – because all a family should worry about is helping their child live,” said Anna Hensgens, a Senior Regional Development Representative at St. Jude.
“St. Jude is very grateful to Maryville College for raising $3,121 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital,” said Hensgens regarding this year’s fundraisers.
Up ‘til Dawn is not new to Maryville but has been a bit dormant the past few years. Smith brought the project back to life this year and has been organizing various fundraisers.
“I’m very proud of this year’s executive board for working diligently to reinvigorate the organization,” said Kristin Gourley, Director of Campus Life here at MC. “The executive board decided to try a new model for fundraising this year. It’s amazing to see what college students can do when they set their mind to do something!”
The team has done several fundraising events throughout the year including various game nights and doughnut sales. The latest fundraiser was the “Field Day” event that involved teams of four with a $200 goal each. After a few weeks of fundraising, everyone involved stayed up all night playing games and having fun.
for the upcoming school year and is planning to start things off early in the fall semester. The executive board is also hoping to increase the number of students that participate and, in turn, expand the amount of money raised for the kids. If you are interested in being a part of next year’s fundraising efforts keep an eye out in the daily “Today@MC” emails for information.