Since 1962, St. Jude Children’s Hospital has been helping children overcome catastrophic diseases. Danny Thomas, the founder of St. Jude Children’s Hospital, believed that “no child should die in the dawn of life”. Since the beginning, it has been St. Jude’s mission to provide care and treatment to these children, denying none based on race, religion, or a family’s ability to pay.
No family at St. Jude ever pays a dime for their child’s treatment.
Illinois State hosted a “St. Jude Up Til Dawn” event that took place on Saturday, November 8th, beginning at 11:30 p.m. and continued until 6 a.m. The final total raised this year was $160,451.28, surpassing the goal by a whopping $10,451.28! With the cost of running St. Jude for only one day being $2 million, the amount that was raised was a huge help to all families involved.
The night was filled with great activities going on every hour, beginning with each team of six creating their own superhero capes out of pillowcases, representing everyone who raised money was a superhero for St. Jude. Speakers were also present at the late night event with past patients of St. Jude and siblings of patients as well.
One of the biggest RSO’s involved in Up Til Dawn is service sorority Epsilon Sigma Alpha, with St. Jude being a philanthropic project of theirs; Epsilon Sigma Alpha hosted the late night event. Junior Bridget Good is the St. Jude chair in ESA this year. She said if she had to choose the speakers were her favorite part of the night.
“The patients, the families; they are all so appreciative of what we are doing. They are the true reason we are there. So it’s awesome to see firsthand where this fundraising is going and who it is helping,” said Good. “I was inspired after my two visits to Memphis this summer. Seeing the firsthand work the hospital does is incredible.”
The main hospital center for St. Jude is in Memphis, Tennessee and ESA takes a trip there every summer.
There were also performances from various dance teams and acapella groups as well as a silent disco, photo booth, and a card-making table for patients. Other events included a duct tape dress fashion show, with teams wrapping one member up with various colored rolls of duct tape to have the most colorful and fashionable dress of them all. Cardio kickboxing instructors also led a 40-minute course to help keep participants awake around 3 am. Pizza, sandwiches, chips, and lots of caffeinated drinks were available through the night. A relay race was the last event before the big reveal of the final number.
Congrats to everyone who participated and helped raise such a huge amount for one of the best organizations out there!