Executive Board members: Marty McGarrigle, Zachary Zuber, Caitie Horan, Kristina Murray, Allison Saffie, Kelly Horan, Sammy Marshall, Sara Mathieu & Marty Tierney.

Connector Staff

UMass Lowell held its second annual Up ‘til Dawn event put on by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on Nov. 14. Through fundraising and fun games, this dynamic duo raised over $36,000 for children in need.

Held in the main lobby of University Crossing, Up ‘til Dawn held teams of fraternities, sororities and of other students invested in making a difference. The premise was simple, students created teams of six, each team was to raise at least $600 to attend the event. Those teams would then compete to earn the most points through three challenges, as well as separate fundraising goals put on by St. Jude; the most points in the morning wins.

With everyone’s minds sharp and lacking fatigue the first challenge began. A battle of wits and skill through five games. Teams competed in game show madness including Family Feud and Wheel of Fortune and tested their skills in other games like Target Football and Rat Runner, vying for the top prize of 15 points.

The second event consisted of the teams flexing their creativity and constructive ability. Using simple materials like graham crackers, frosting, candy and more, teams had to create their own sweet version of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

As morning slowly approached and everyone guzzled down their umpteenth coffee of the night, the third challenge commenced. In Hungry Hungry Hippo fashion, teams pushed a teammate on a scooter board into a circle filled of balls with letters on them. When pulled back, teams had to make words out of those jumbled out letters; the winner was decided on who got the most words in the end.

When the dust settled and the sun loomed on the horizon one team stood atop the others, Andrew’s Team, consisting of six members of Alpha Omega. The team developed the name from a place of love.

Olivia Marshall, a member of Alpha Omega, had recently found that her little brother, Andrew, was diagnosed with leukemia. The women banded together and renamed their team in honor of the brave young man, and decided to dedicate their winnings, six $100 Visa gift cards, all towards Andrew.

It is this kind of selflessness and caring that St. Jude loves to see every year, as they provide treatments and cures for the worst pediatric cases. The Connector got the chance to speak to Marty McGarrigle and Caitie Horan, two of the St. Jude staff that helped put on the event.

St. Jude, based out of Memphis, Tennessee, has been helping the community around the world for years, specializing in pediatric care. “St. Jude’s doesn’t charge the families anything,” says Horan, “St. Jude’s covers all of it and gives the family a bill regardless of background, race or gender.”

McGarrigle, when asked about what else St. Jude does said, “All research is shared freely, unlike every other medical company: no licensing, no trademarks. They [other hospitals] can use St. Jude’s research for free.” Such research includes a genome project put on by St. Jude to help map out a child’s genome to try and pinpoint where cancer begins in pediatric cases.

When asked why choose colleges instead traditional venues, like ballrooms and galas, for fundraising McGarrigle said the founder of St. Jude Danny Thomas, “had his first fundraisers with college kids, he knew they were passionate and we [college students] are driven.” And with that drive it is creating “donors for life.”

St. Jude could not be more ecstatic about the support UMass Lowell has shown in the two years they have been here. “It’s always difficult to start something up,” says Horan, “but the jump we’ve had in participants and money raised has been insane!” From last year to this year the amount raised more than doubled from just over $17,000 raised to a whopping $36,661.