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Student Movement Against Cancer (SMAC) will wrap up this year’s fund-raising events for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with the Up ‘til Dawn campus-wide party held 7 p.m.-3 a.m. Friday, Feb. 2- Saturday, Feb. 3 in Farinon College Center.
The party will have a hypnotist from 8-9 p.m., performances by student a cappella groups Cadence and the Chorduroys at 9:30 p.m., music provided by the student radio station WJRH 104.9 FM, and free food and gifts from local restaurants and businesses. All night long, students can participate in blow-up gladiator jousting, the moon bounce, karaoke, and movies and video games on big screen TVs. There is an entrance fee of $5, which can be paid beforehand or at the door. Contact SMAC@lafayette.edu for more details.
Founded last year by co-presidents Barie and Tracy Salmon ’08 (Scotch Plains, N.J.), SMAC has raised about $30,000 so far for St. Jude.
“This year we decided to hold the Up ‘til Dawn fund-raiser 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.”
Fund-raising efforts have consisted of teams of students soliciting donations during a letter-writing campaign and a bag party, co-hosted by 1154 LILL STUDIO, in November. Students, faculty, and staff were able to design their own handbag, belt, make-up bag, or photo album, with a percentage of the profits going to St. Jude.
Up ‘til Dawn is the group’s finale for the school year.
“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,” 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 fund-raisers 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.