Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Staff photo: Derek Major ENMU students sit and watch a powerpoint presentation of Lance Fletcher’s cancer fight and recovery Friday at the Campus Union as part of the “Up ’til Dawn” fundraiser.
Staff writer
link Staff photo: Derek Major
ENMU students sit and watch a powerpoint presentation of Lance Fletcher’s
cancer fight and recovery Friday at the Campus Union as part of the “Up ’til Dawn”
fundraiser.
Most weekends, college students stay up late, hanging out at bars or playing video games with friends. But on Friday, about 50 Eastern New Mexico University students stayed up for a good cause.
The Associated Students of ENMU held its annual “Up ’til Dawn” fundraiser for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The event has run yearly at ENMU since 2009.
“I think it’s nice to see college students come out and help others,” said Nicole Disturco, regional development representative for St. Jude’s. “I know for me it was a very selfish time, but anytime you can help out others it’s a good thing.”
Fireworks were set off on campus Friday night to commemorate the event in which students pledged to stay up from 10 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Saturday morning.
Students grouped into teams of six were challenged to raise at least $100 per person by asking friends and family to donate through a website. In all, 94 students raised $14,293, officials said.
It’s an amazing experience,” said Carla Anaya, who directed the event for the second time. “I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity. It’s very near and dear to me. I’ve visited the hospital twice and it’s a great facility. It really gives you hope for humanity.”
Teams did four different challenges throughout the night and the team with the most points at the end of the night received a prize. The national program for St. Jude teams up with about 90 colleges across the county for the Up ’Til Dawn event.
“I think it means the most to the parents of the children,” Disturco said. “They get to see older people willing to work and help others.”
Lance Fletcher, 15, who was a patient at St. Jude’s Hospital, attended the event and took questions from ENMU students.
“It’s pretty cool to be here,” Fletcher said. “You get to see kids who care about what’s going on in the world. Whenever you’re going through college you have a lot of opportunities to do cool things like this.”
