Instead of hitting the party scene Friday night, a group of dedicated University students stayed “Up Till Dawn” at University Recreation, laughing through “wacky olympic” games and listening to a performance by Mixed Nuts, a local cover band.
But the night was not all fun. No one there could forget Stanton Haynes — the boy who died Feb. 13, 2005 of cancer one day shy of his fourth birthday and in whose memory the event was held.
After their fifth-annual drive to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, students who participated in Up Till Dawn came together Friday to celebrate a job well done and to donate a check for $93,826 to the hospital.
St. Jude — which operates entirely off donations — is a children’s hospital that provides treatment to seriously ill children regardless of their parents’ ability to pay. Each year, Up Till Dawn participates in a letter-writing campaign to raise funds for the hospital and its patients.
Natalie Weil, assistant director of Up Till Dawn, said St. Jude does “amazing things” to increase patients’ survival rates and to better their quality of life.
Planners of Up Till Dawn decided to dedicate their late-night festivities to one of those children who did not survive his bout with cancer.
“Each year, some of the members of Up Till Dawn go to St. Jude,” Weil said. “This year we met Stanton Haynes [a patient of St. Jude] and were inspired by him. When we learned he had died, we wanted to honor him.”
Weil said the group considers this year’s fund-raiser a huge accomplishment and looks forward to the opportunity to do it again next year.
“The hospital costs about $1 million a day to run, and we are proud to contribute to their cause,” Weil said. “This year was definitely a success.”