Imagine being a parent to a young child who was just diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. You want to do everything you can for your child to survive; but what if you are not economically capable to pay for the expensive hospital bills? What are you supposed to do?
At St. Jude Childrenâs Research Hospital, in Memphis, Tennessee, no family ever has to answer those questions. The hospital pays for everything. A family does not need to go through the stress of scraping up the money to pay the overwhelming hospital bills. At St. Judeâs, the only thing that parents pay is attention to their child in need.
Having to pay zero hospital bills is very hard to believe, especially because the operating costs of the hospital are around $1.8 million per day. It is mainly thanks to generous contributions from the public that no family spends a dime at St. Jude. Â According to st.jude.org, the childrenâs hospital was founded in 1962 by Danny Thomas, with the intention that âno child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a familyâs inability to pay.â
Danny Thomasâ vision was to find cures for children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. In 1962, for example, the survival rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia was only 4%. Sadly enough, this kind was the most common form of childhood cancer. Danny Thomas wanted to restore hope in his patients and their families by conducting research and administering the best treatments possible to them. St. Jude Childrenâs Hospital is a place of hope, happiness and recovery for young patients, and is always in need of donations to keep the families of patients from paying hospital bills.
One of the most successful forms of fundraising comes from the hospitalâs program, called St. Jude Up âtil Dawn. This nation-wide philanthropic program is student-led and student-run. The purpose is to raise funds for St. Jude Childrenâs Research Hospital in order to keep the mission of founder, Danny Thomas, alive. St. Jude Up âtil Dawn was brought to Bryant Universityâs campus in 2006 by Sigma Sigma Sigma alumna, Amanda McKay.
This year, St. Jude Up âTil Dawn will be taking place at Bryant University on Friday, November 8th in the MAC from 12 am to 6 am. Becky Travis is the event coordinator and this will be the 7th annual Up âTil Dawn event being held at Bryant. Participants have the entire semester (up until the event) to raise as much money as they can. In order to participate, you must be part of a team of six. The minimum amount that each team needs to fundraise is $600, which comes down to $100 per person. Raising $100 is a requirement of attending the all-night challenge. At this all-night event, each team will be competing in activities, winning prizes, enjoying food and beverages, and celebrating how much they have raised together.