Up ’til Dawn letter campaign is today

Up ‘til Dawn will be hosting a fundraising event today in the Student Recreation Center from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Students are asked to bring a list of addresses for friends and relatives. Participants will then complete letters and mail out letters, asking the people on their mailing list to donate to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Up ‘til Dawn will offer free food and door prizes for those participating in the event.

Tori Taylor, a senior Chemistry major, is the executive director of the Up ‘til Dawn organization. She encourages other students to come out and participate.

“Students should bring as many [addresses] as they can. The more they bring, the more money we can raise for St. Jude. If students fill out 50 letters, they get a free T-shirt,” Taylor said.

Last year’s letter-writing event sent out about 4,000 letters and raised over $27,000. UTM also won the Rookie of the Year Award at the St. Jude/ALSAC Collegiate Leadership Seminar this spring for raising the most money of first-year schools.

The UTM chapter of Up ‘til Dawn was started in the fall of 2011 by Amy Dysinger, a Communications major who graduated from UTM just this past May.

UTM is one of over 250 colleges that have an Up ‘til Dawn organization. The goal of Up ‘til Dawn is to raise awareness and money for St. Jude.

Taylor shared her enthusiasm for not only the letter writing event itself, but also the more important goal of helping St. Jude save more children.

“I absolutely love working with St. Jude. Our executive board has put in so much effort planning this year’s letter writing event. We really hope that the students enjoy themselves and come out and help us fight childhood cancer,” Taylor said.