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Founded one year ago by co-presidents Barie and Tracy Salmon ’08 (Scotch Plains, N.J.), Student Movement Against Cancer (SMAC) will begin its fund raising events for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Saturday, Oct. 14, with the All Team Meeting – Up ‘til Dawn.
“This year we decided to hold the Up ‘til Dawn fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital,” Barie says. “The hospital is different from any other hospital in that research is freely shared with doctors and scientists all over the world, no family pays for treatment beyond what is covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay. St. Jude’s daily operating cost is over $1 million a day, so with the help of schools like Lafayette, they will continue to be able to run the hospital day after day.”
The All Team Meeting will be held 12-4 p.m. in the Marlo Room, Farinon College Center and is Lafayette’s main fund raising event for St. Jude’s. Students will come between the designated times to fill out pre-written letters asking for donations from family members and friends. Prizes will be awarded for each person who fills out 50 letters, and entertainment will be provided for all teams that participate. Registration for this event is $5, and includes the registration fee for the Up ‘til Dawn Finale.
SMAC will follow the first Up ‘til Dawn activity with a bag party, co-hosted by 1154 LILL STUDIO, 10 a.m-9 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 7, in the 1st Floor Farinon Atrium. Students, faculty, and staff are invited to design their own handbag, belt, make-up bag, or photo album. There will be many different fabrics and bag styles to choose from, and the item will be made and sent back in time for the holidays. SMAC will get a percentage of the profits made from the event to donate to St. Jude’s.
The final event for Up ‘til Dawn will be 7 p.m.-3 a.m. Friday, Feb. 2- Saturday, Feb. 3 in Farinon College Center. Taking place after all the letters have been sent out and donations have been received, the Up ‘til Dawn Finale will be a campus-wide party to celebrate how much money Lafayette has raised for St. Jude’s. There will be free food, prizes, and entertainment.
“The reason for staying ‘Up ‘til Dawn’ is to celebrate our accomplishments and sacrifice a night’s sleep in honor of the patients and families of St. Jude’s,” Tracy says. “We will stay up all night to celebrate the lives of cancer victims and survivors. The idea is that cancer doesn’t sleep and neither do we!”
Last year, SMAC hosted the hugely successful American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. Over 450 people came to the Relay and together raised $30,000 for the American Cancer Society.
The original SMAC was founded at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School in New Jersey by a junior diagnosed with cancer and his friends. According to Barie, the group grew to over 200 members, making it the largest club at the high school, offering help to other cancer victims. The students held successful fundraisers and started a Relay for Life at the request of the American Cancer Society. When the founders graduated, Barie and Tracy became executive board members and were asked to start a chapter of SMAC wherever they went to college.
“When we were both very young, our grandmother died of breast cancer. We were too young to remember and although we hear stories about her and how similar we are to her, we wish she could have lived long enough for us to know her,” says Barie. “[Then] when we were freshmen in high school, our friend Robbie was diagnosed with testicular cancer. We realized just how many lives cancer touched, and how great it would feel to contribute to one day finding a cure for such a horrible disease.”
For more information about SMAC and upcoming events or to register for the All Team Meeting – Up ‘til Dawn, contact Barie or Tracy.