Donations to St. Jude from SRU

https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/968459/

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital was founded by Danny Thomas in 1962. Its purpose is to serve children in need through research and medical care for free. No patient or family member of anyone receiving care at St. Jude ever receives a bill. In 2012, Slippery Rock University decided they wanted to make a difference, so SRU St. Jude Up 'til Dawn (now known as Up 'til 2) was established as an official club. The purpose of having SRU UT2 is to raise money for St. Jude before and during the event. This school year, the event will be on Friday, February 7, 2020 in the ARC from 9:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m. The event includes games, music, special performances, pizza and more. To participate in the event, each individual must raise $50, which is donated to St. Jude. Other fundraisers are no more cancer rallies, spaghetti dinners, jailbreaks, raffles and more.

I compared the annual differences between the goals and amount donated from 2013-2020 through data visualization. This graph shows how much of a positive impact SRU can have on families and children across the country. 2013 was the club’s first year, so it had the lowest goal of $10,000. SRU beat that goal and raised a total of $26,035, but was unable to beat the goals of the following four years. In 2019, SRU set a new personal St. Jude donation record with $68,973. The significance of this year’s funds had a lot to do with SRU UT2’s President, Morgan Simkovic. Her brother, Colby, was diagnosed with a non-germinoma germ cell tumor in his pineal gland. It was extremely aggressive and its location made it inoperable. He spent seven months at St. Jude in Memphis, Tennessee for chemotherapy and radiation treatments, then went into remission. For the last nine years, he has only had to visit St. Jude for yearly checkups, but last month, that changed. His most recent scans show another spot in his brain caused by his first bout of radiation. He is currently receiving more radiation treatments at St. Jude. Throughout all the years and all the treatments, Colby and his family have never received a bill from St. Jude. 

“I knew Slippery Rock did fundraising for St. Jude and I wanted to be a part of that movement. It’s extremely humbling to see the outpouring support from our campus toward an organization so important to me,” Morgan Simkovic said.

This club is so meaningful and important because it is personally affecting an SRU student's life. St. Jude is doing everything it can to help children in need, which requires continuous outside donations. I have participated in SRU UT2 every year that I have been here and it is something everyone should experience.

Maddy Buchanan, event and logistics director for SRU UT2, discusses the importance of this event.

Take a look at what a student fundraising page for SRU St. Jude Up til 2 looks like!