The Bowdoin Orient

February 9, 2001
Volume CXXXII, Number 15

Help St. Jude Children's Hospital by staying "Up 'Til Dawn"

by JULIE THOMPSON - STAFF WRITER

   Extravaganza. According to the ever-helpful Webster's, the word means "something extravagant." However, for many of us, it seems to fairly ooze symbolic meaning: when we think of an extravaganza, we think, "feast for the senses."
   We normally don't associate frozen wastelands, a.k.a. Brunswick in February, with anything close to a multi-sensory smorgasbord of delights. This Saturday night will change that stereotype for good.
   In case you haven't been paying attention, or looking up from time to time when you're in the Union, this Saturday night in Morrell Lounge will be the extravaganza of the year: the Up 'Til Dawn all-campus party to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
   The event, which will run from 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m., is the culmination of a year-long fundraising effort by a group of students dedicated to raising awareness-and money-for St. Jude.
   The idea behind St. Jude is simple, yet rarely put into practice: help those in need without asking for anything in return. Located in Memphis, Tennessee, St. Jude functions as both a research and treatment hospital entirely focused on childhood illnesses. What makes this hospital unique is the fact that not a single patient must pay for the treatment that he or she receives at St. Jude.
   As an entirely pro bono organization, St. Jude provides free medical services to its patients and their families. The hospital even goes as far as to provide for travel expenses and housing if a family cannot afford to make the trek to Memphis.
   As a research facility, St. Jude draws from some of the most prominent minds in several fields of medicine. Their staff boasts a 1996 Nobel laureate in medicine, Peter C. Doherty, now head of immunology at St. Jude. The research and method protocols developed at St. Jude are freely shared with hospitals around the country and world, and children from literally anywhere are eligible to receive treatment.
   In talking to Cabul Mehta '03, executive director of Up 'Til Dawn at Bowdoin, it became clear that this is no ordinary fundraising effort. It is an endeavor of monumental proportions. Mehta was first introduced to UTD and St. Jude in the spring of last year, when a campus-wide email went out calling for a group of students to lead the event's organization at Bowdoin.
   Although his original intention was not to head up the project, Mehta decided to accept the position and attended a conference in June for executive directors. He began assembling his team (coincidentally, all sophomores) as soon as school started in September, and was immediately impressed by their enthusiasm and desire to work with the community.
   The group was highly conscious of the scale of such an undertaking, as well as its implications for fundraising at the school in general. Bowdoin is the first college in all of New England to participate in UTD, and schools such as Dartmouth and Holy Cross are using this year's event as a model for their own plans.
   According to Mehta, the Up 'Til Dawn party itself took off as a fundraiser in the south, where students would be sponsored for staying up all night. The idea behind the event is one of empathy: through the event, students show their support for the parents of sick children who really must stay up all night at the hospital.
   Saturday's party will be the culmination of the team's year-long efforts. Last semester was highlighted by a tasty bake sale, a holiday card-making table at Sunsplash, and the infamous Penny Wars, which heated things up considerably among the social houses. Tomorrow night's schedule of events will be as follows:

   9:00 p.m.-Bachelor/Bachelorette auction
   10:00 p.m.-Performance by Soulive and DJ Logic
   1:00 a.m.-Improvabilities Later on-Allen Gingrich '03 spins

Throughout the evening, there will be plenty of opportunities to help St. Jude.
   A raffle will be held for a round trip plane ticket to anywhere in the U.S., and T-shirts will be on sale all night. Donations will be gratefully accepted, but Mehta stresses that the event is "completely free of charge."
   While members of the Executive Board have done the large majority of the work themselves, they have also received help from several campus organizations. The Campus Activities Board provided assistance by bringing Soulive and DJ Logic to Bowdoin for the event, and Dining Services has been an enormous boon to the group. "Jon Wiley of dining services has done so much for us; I just can't thank him enough," says Cabul.
   He has also been very impressed with the group's commitment to the venture: "The board has been amazing. They have really taken this project above and beyond what I ever imagined it would be." Board members too have been excited to see the effect of the event on the campus. Alison Banks '03, internal assistant director of Up 'Til Dawn, says, "It's made me realize that raising $1,000 isn't that hard. It's great that a campus this size can raise so much money for such an incredible cause."
   For more information go to www.bowdoin.edu/studorgs/uptildawn