HC: What is Up ‘Til Dawn?
Brittany Galko: Up ‘Til Dawn is a yearly event where students nationwide stay up all night participating in different events that raise money and spread awareness for childhood cancer. St Jude’s is a children’s research hospital where they are completely fundraising and donation based, no family ever has to pay a bill. They’re located in Memphis Tennessee, but no matter where you live they will fly you to Memphis and take care of all your medical expenses. Their research department is also just as charitable by making all of their research available to other labs and the public.
HC: What is your position?
BG: I am the public relations chair; I’m a part of the PR team and I work with Halle Trabue and Devyn Vinson. We’re in charge of the social media for the event, the prizes the teams are eligible to win, the prizes and fundraising parties leading up to the event, flyer making, and any other advertisements leading up to the event.
HC: How many doorknockers have you hung?
BG: Probably close to 400.
HC: What are you most excited for?
BG: I think I’m most excited to see that we (hopefully) beat our fundraising goal. Statistics show that the last week is where we raise the bulk of our money; we currently have 42% of our $75,000 fundraising goal so I’m expecting us to surpass our goal given that we are about a month away from the event, which is November 10th
HC: What’s different this year from past years?
BG: We’re trying get more people involved because last year there was a lower participant rate. We’re also holding more events leading up to the events, things like fundraising blitzes and parties to build excitement and motivate people to get more involved and do more fundraising. For E-Board, we are all assigned different teams as fundraising coaches to help raise funds quicker.
HC: What can people expect from the event?
BG: This year’s theme is carnival, so there will be a lot of carnival themed games, prizes, and foods. In past years we sat a lot, but this year will have fun stuff to do all night while at the event so unless you want some downtime, you can always stay busy. As of now the main events are a surprise!
HC: What is the most challenging part of putting on the event?
BG: The most challenging part is getting people excited about it. The E-board is so passionate about the cause; we’re trying to get people as excited as we are to raise funds. For me personally it is really motivating to see us get closer and closer to our goal, but it’s hard to pass this feeling onto other people unless they are looking at our statistics for themselves.
HC: Do you have any personal goals? Group goals?
BG: My personal goal is reaching $500 in fundraising. I also want to get at least 600 people participating in the event, and we currently have 400. As an E-board we want to get the maximum amount of people involved. Also, we are looking to get more sponsors. We have a bunch of different organizations from across Smithfield, and the fundraising director continues to reach out to expand this network. We got a pretty big sponsorship from Edible Arrangements, which is very exciting.
HC: What can we expect leading up to the event?
BG: Fundraising party October 18th! You should also look out for Awareness and Fundraising Week from November 1st-7th, and on the 7th of November we are having another fundraising party. You can also expect random fundraising blitzes between now and the event.
HC: Any fundraising tips?
BG: The way the people fundraise the most is by donating money yourself, then challenging people on social media to match it. Using emailing and personal messaging also helps to personalize a message to make people more inclined to donate. Asking your parents place of employment is super helpful. Most people forget to reach out to alumni that they know, and they are usually willing to donate as well.
HC: Any last comments?
BG: Get a good night’s sleep the day before and be ready for November 10th from 11pm to 5am!