Up ‘til Dawn hosted its annual Finale event last weekend after a year of fundraising for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Since last year’s Finale, Up ‘til Dawn participants raised more than their goal of $40,000.

The group has never raised this much money in a single year before. Despite this, Up ‘til Dawn executive director Katee Fairchild said she was confident that the group could raise so much after their Executive Board raised more money than any other school in the nation and won a trip to visit the hospital last summer.

“I was a little nervous about our goal at first but I knew that if we worked as hard as we did over the summer to get donations, we could reach our goal of $40,000 and then some,” Fairchild said.

Finale was held in the Activity Center from  midnight on Friday to 6 a.m. on Saturday morning.

The participants were not allowed to sleep as homage to St. Jude patients and families who are forced through sleepless nights as they go through treatment at the hospital.

The event’s theme was “Around the World” because St. Jude benefits not only children in America, but children worldwide. Not only do they take international patients, but they share their research globally.

As the St. Jude web site says, “one child saved at St. Jude means thousands more saved worldwide.”

31 participants formed teams to fundraise and compete in games throughout the night. The games were related to St. Jude and the countries it serves around the world.

Justin Washer, a junior psychology major, attended Finale for the first time this year and was impressed by all he learned about the hospital in one night. He especially enjoyed learning about what the patients experience at the hospital.

“I really like hearing the stories of the kids and how they give their testimonies,” Washer said.

Up ‘til Dawn fundraises through social media and local events like on-campus t-shirt sales, giveback nights at restaurants and their annual Battle of the Bands.