It costs $2 million to run St. Jude Hospital each day according to their website, yet families who come to the hospital will never receive a bill for its services.

About 75 percent of the amount that it takes to run St. Jude comes from public contributions, and Up ’til Dawn, a nation-wide student-led fundraising program, is dedicated to making sure families will never have to worry about getting care for their children.

Colorado State University’s Up ’til Dawn team has raised just over $21,000, and their fundraising goes until May, according to Madison Young, the executive director of CSU St. Jude Up ’til Dawn. Young is a junior majoring in human development and family studies at CSU

“At the end of our fundraising year, usually in February we host an all-night event from midnight to 6 a.m. to celebrate the amazing year we had,” Young said. “The point of staying up all night is to honor the children and families who lose sleep due to cancer and catastrophic diseases.”

This year the all-night event was held in the CSU Recreation Center on Feb. 27.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is the only pediatric research hospital that has been awarded a National Cancer Institute cancer center support grant, according to Young, which allows them to continue to work toward finding a cure for cancer.

According to St. Jude’s website, “at the core of our mission is our ability to research and treat life-threatening childhood diseases for the patients who come through our doors today as well as the children who will need us in the future.”

St. Jude shares its research freely, according to Young. It is likely that the protocol being used for cancer at any hospital came from St. Jude.

“$100 seems like a lot for us, but it’s not that much compared to what research costs,” Young said as she talked about the fundraising that the group does. “It’s great to see what college students can do when they put their mind to it.”

Young’s involvement in the group and drive to continue fundraising for St. Jude comes from a more personal story about the loss of a friend.

“This cause is very dear to my heart as my best friend was treated at St. Jude,” Young said. “He had stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer, which is an adult form of cancer. Since St. Jude only treats pediatric cancers, they did not have the ability to treat him at the facility, but they paid for his treatment elsewhere and housed him at St. Jude. Though he didn’t make it, I got to see first hand how amazing St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is. These people give up their lives to save others.'”

Up ’til Dawn will continue to plan events until May to reach their fundraising goal of $30,000.

Collegian Reporter Megan Fischer can be reached at news@collegian.com or via Twitter @MegFischer04.