Up ‘Til Dawn Raises Over $118,000 for Cancer
Up ‘Til Dawn e-board members hold up the night’s total.
Students at the University of New Haven raised $118, 702 during Saturday’s, Feb. 23 Up ‘til Dawn event. As the name implies, students are challenged to stay up all night in order to raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. This was the event’s 11th year running at the university.
Staying up from 10 p.m. Saturday night until 6 a.m. Sunday morning didn’t seem to faze the attendees. In fact, students enjoyed being able to come together for a night of fun and fundraising.
Students gathered in the Rec Center to stay up all night and raise money for childhood cancer research.
“This is my first year. I’m so excited,” said Sarah Licata, a freshman nutrition and dietetics major. “I’m looking forward to hanging out with my friends, having a good time, and we’re all going out for a good cause.”
In order to keep everyone awake throughout the night and to continue to raise money for St. Jude’s, students competed in various challenges throughout the night. These included music trivia and poster making.
Hosted by the St. Jude Up ‘til Dawn student organization on campus, this year’s event was co-sponsored by Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Phi Sigma Sigma, the American Criminal Justice Association, Alpha Phi Delta, Rotaract, and the men’s and women’s rugby teams. The entire event was emceed by juniors Ian Maloney and Michelle Liantonio. The two opened up the event by thanking everyone in attendance and drawing attention to the safari theme of the night. Attendees were dressed in safari hats and boots and the recreation center had cardboard cutouts of animals and balloons covered in animal print. Other attractions included inflatables, a photo booth, popcorn and cotton candy machines, a balloon artist, a caricature artist, and music.
Bottom (left to right): Thomas Koppelmann, Zack Wolff, Julia Annunziato. Top (left to right): Olivia Segota, Josh Kealer, Brooke Lombarfo.
According to Meghan Mammola and Matt Lind, two seniors on the St. Jude’s Up ‘til Dawn e-board, planning for this event took place as early as last summer.
“It’s a huge time commitment,” said Mammola a criminal justice and national security double major. “But it’s so worthwhile. It’s a lot but it comes together in the end.”
Lind, a legal studies and criminal justice double major, actually became involved with St. Jude’s for a personal reason.
“I decided to do Up ‘til Dawn because cancer’s been prevalent in my family,” said Lind. “I can’t imagine seeing someone so young go through that. That’s pretty tough.”
Throughout the night, the emcees would also play videos from St. Jude’s, showing everyone to whom and where their money was going.
“The little videos that we watch about each child’s individual story, going through the hospital and going through the process of getting money from St. Jude, all of that stuff hits your feels,” said Lauren Risley, a senior criminal justice major with a concentration in investigative services. “I usually hate that, but this is nice. So it’s a good feeling.”
But according to attendees, by far the best part of the night was seeing the reveal at the end. Despite the dip in fundraising compared to last year’s total of over $137,000, attendees were still excited to be part of the night.
“It’s so rewarding,” said Risley. “Like it’s so exciting just knowing that even like $5, like the littlest amount of money can do anything.”
Everett Bishop is a senior at the University of New Haven and is student life editor for The Charger Bulletin. He is double majoring in communications...
