Story by Carolyn Wright
Members of the Delta Zeta sorority work on addressing letters to their friends and families in hops of benefiting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. (Photo by Carolyn Wright)
About 5,400 patients visit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on a yearly basis. New Mexico State University students are doing their part to help raise money for the hospital.
NMSU recently adopted the Up ‘til Dawn program, a letter-writing campaign to raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. More than 600 students on campus wrote letters to friends and family asking for donations to St. Jude.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was founded in 1962, with a mission to find cures for children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. It is located in Memphis, Tenn.
St. Jude is the only research hospital where families do not have to pay for treatment. All patients are accepted for treatment at St. Jude regardless of ability to pay.
Up ‘til Dawn
Members of the Up 'til Dawn organization count letters as students return them. (Photo by Carolyn Wright)
Jayna Nance, executive director for NMSU’s Up ‘til Dawn program, was approached by representatives from St. Jude to bring the program to the campus.
“It was something I really wanted to get involved in because I’ve never had an opportunity to give back to St. Jude, and I thought this was a great way to get started,” Nance said.
After choosing an executive board, Nance chartered the Up ‘til Dawn organization through the university to ensure that it would be recognized as a student organization.
The event
Janelle Candelaria and Joselyn Martinez show off shirts they won for writing more than 35 letters for St. Jude. (Photo by Carolyn Wright)
New Mexico State held its Up ‘til Dawn Event on April 23 at the Activity Center on campus. Throughout the day members of sororities and fraternities, as well as other students on campus, piled into the AC to address premade letters to their friends and family.
The students who participated in this year’s event wrote a total of 6,073 letters, according to an event-marketing representative.
Chi Omega’s Kursty Keeler wrote the most individual letters with a total of 186.
If students would like to become a part of Up ‘til Dawn they may contact Jayna Nance at jaynance@nmsu.edu.
