On Oct. 14, Jacqueline Hinrichs, who is St. Jude’s fundraising president, put on an ABC (Anything But Clothes) fashion show. This is the first time the St. Jude Up ‘Til Dawn committee has put on a fashion show to help fundraise for the finale of Up ‘Til Dawn in February.

The committee has set a goal of $100,000, hoping to beat last year’s $87,130.

So far, they have raised $12,000, and the fashion show brought in an additional $356 with the generous donations from the audience.

The University of New Haven is the third top fundraising school for St. Jude’s in the United States.

St. Jude is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1962. Its motto being “No child should die in the dawn of life,” St. Jude provides patient care and treatment at no cost; no family ever pays for anything through St. Jude. Here at UNH, students can join the UTD committee and help organize St. Jude fundraisers and raise money for the grand total.

There will be tables in November to help donate, but if you don’t just want to donate there, you can always join a team.

The show, which was held in Bucknall Theater at 8 p.m., featured contestants who were both female and male and had to compete with each other in three categories.

Hinrichs discussed the point of an ABC fashion show, and how she wanted it to relate to the kids at St. Jude’s. She explained that, although obviously not as difficult as going through chemo, trying to find and create an outfit using no clothes was a difficult challenge, like fighting cancer. The first category judged the creativity of the nine contestants competing. Contestants Venessa Tello dressed up as a bubble bath, Sarah Skawinski was mac and cheese, and Kevin Lindley was a present. When questioned why he dressed up as a present, Lindley stated, “St. Jude gives more birthdays for kids.”

The next category involved each contestant being asked two questions or facts about St. Jude, which everyone succeeded in answering correctly. Afterwards, there was an intermission and a performance by Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha. Then was the super hero competition, inspired by the chosen theme for this year’s Up ‘Til Dawn event.
Other contestants, like Nick Mroczka, dressed as a ninja turtle, which he made out of cardboard boxes and cloth. Teresa DeMarco was Super T, a version of herself as a hero, and Amanda Sette dressed as Poison Ivy made out of duct tape. Of the four the boys, Lindley won first place and second place was Mroczka. For the girls, DeMarco placed first and coming in second was Skawinski.

If you are interested in getting involved with UTD, there are open meetings every other Thursday in the Alumni lounge.

Those interested can email Julianne Toce, who is the president of the UTD chapter at UNH and has been involved with St. Jude since she was a Girl Scout, at [email protected].