Binghamton Athletes Raise More Than $32,000 for St. Jude's Children's Hospital - AmericaEast.com

Binghamton Athletes Raise More Than $32,000 for St. Jude's Children's Hospital - AmericaEast.com

Courtesy Binghamton Sports Information

VESTAL, N.Y.--Students athletes at Binghamton University recently held their Up til Dawn celebration on April 30. They celebrated a successful year of fund-raising through Up 'til Dawn, a program dedicated to the life-saving work of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital?. The third annual event took place at the Binghamton Regency.

The Up 'til Dawn event is the culmination of many months of fund-raising planning to benefit the kids of St. Jude. Binghamton students raised over $32,800 through the program by organizing the student athletes to attend a letter sending event. Binghamton University athletic department was one of the top two universities in New York State in letters sent and funds raised.

Senior Mary Tursi (Staten Island, N.Y.), the current president of SAAC, came up with the idea to help out St. Jude Hospital two years ago.

"I was at a movie during my sophomore year and before the previews, there was a short video about St. Jude," she said. "I was really touched by what their goals were and when I talked to the people at SAAC, they thought it was a great idea. It was too late in the year to do the (Up Til Dawn) program but we started the following year."

Tursi, along with fellow SAAC officers Adam Goldberg (New Rochelle, N.Y.), Kristy Doerner (Shoreham, N.Y.) and Rob Nolte (Schenectady, N.Y.) spearheaded this year's campaign. Tursi credits former SAAC president Lauren Verrusio with organizing the initial event last year.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Founded by late entertainer Danny Thomas and based in Memphis, Tenn., St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world. No family ever pays for treatments not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay. St Jude is financially supported by ALSAC, its fund-raising organization. For more information, please call 1-800-822-6344 or visit www.stjude.org.

NOTE: The St. Jude event is one of many community outreach programs initiated by the staff and student-athletes at Binghamton University. The SAAC as well as many individual sports teams also work with local fundraising organizations and schools throughout the year.