St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is known to be the world’s premier pediatric cancer research center. St. Jude is located in Memphis, Tenn., and strives to create cures for children with cancer and other diseases through research and treatment. Slippery Rock University and about 40 other universities nationwide participate in supporting St. Jude through collegiate organizations.
Several SRU organizations have collaborated with St. Jude to raise money and spread awareness of the research hospital.
SRU St. Jude Up ‘til 2 is an organization on campus that raises awareness of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The organization encourages the SRU student body to raise money and participate in events throughout the year.
SRU St. Jude Up ‘til 2 hosted Tunes for St. Jude Jeopardy Night on Tuesday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. This event encouraged students to sign up in teams and participate in jeopardy. The jeopardy categories included name that tune, finish the lyric, name that artist, name that genre and random facts. The winning team earned prizes and all teams helped raise money for St. Jude.
The final event for the organization will be the St. Jude Up ’til 2: Carnival Night. This event will be held Feb. 11 from 7 p.m. until Feb 12. at 2 a.m. There will be games, food and a celebration for the amount of money raised. There is an entry fee of $5 for children and $10 for adults in the community.
SRU St. Jude Up ‘til 2 Executive Director Caitlyn Dugan spoke on how students can participate in the upcoming Carnival Night.
“People make fundraising pages through us and they do the fundraising on their own,” Dugan said. “They ask family to donate through then and when they raise $50 or more, then they get a free pass into our event which includes free food, free games and to just come celebrate with us.”
In the past, the organization has raised $74,000 for St. Jude leading up to the big event.
The Pre-Physician Assistant (Pre-PA) Club also held a bake sale on Tuesday Nov. 16 during Common Hour. All profits from the bake sale are to be donated to St. Jude. The organization had a team goal of $500 to raise from the bake sale. The Pre-PA club worked with the MEDLIFE club (Medicine, Education, and Development for Low Income Families Everywhere) to reach their goal.
Gia DeCario, president of the Pre-PA club, spoke on the planning behind the bake sale.
“I think that the Pre-PA club really fits hand in hand with this because we’re all about the medical field,” DeCario said. “We want to be future medical providers and we want to be engaged.
“I think this is a great way to educate ourselves.”
DeCario also said this is a great way to learn about St. Jude and how they can give back to an amazing treatment and research center.
To stay up to date to all events going on with St. Jude, visit their page on the CORE app or website. To learn more about how St. Jude gets involved with universities and colleges, click here.
