Members of Greek Council at Wayne State College are fundraising for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as part of their commitment to philanthropy.
Morgan Kruger, head of philanthropy for Greek Council, said their fundraiser has two parts, the first of which has already started.
“We’ve got these flyers,” Kruger said. “We’ve been handing these out to businesses around town in Wayne, and it’s got some information about St. Jude.”
Kruger said there are also similar, pink-colored posters hanging around campus with two options to donate: her Venmo and a website linked with a QR code.
“It’s a St. Jude site where you can donate, and it says like, ‘Wayne State College Greek Council fundraiser for St. Jude,’ and if you donate there, I don’t touch that money,” Kruger said. “That goes directly to St. Jude. The only issue with that is it only, I think the smallest donation you can make is $20 or $30.”
Kruger said that was why she added the option of her Venmo.
“Big donations are great, but also a lot of people donating $1, $2 also really helps, and not everybody can or wants to donate 30 at a time,” Kruger said.
The second part of the fundraiser will be on Friday, Feb. 9, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
“In the student center we’re going to have a table, and at that table, we’re basically going to be giving this whole spiel about St. Jude, and same thing, people can either donate cash or either one of these,” Kruger said.
“We asked companies around Wayne if they could donate either monetarily, or some sort of like gift basket or gift card,” Kruger said. “People who donate at that table can put, depending on how much they donate, can put their name in our raffle, and then we’ll have those prizes raffled off.”
“None of the proceeds are going to us,” Kirsten Schmuecker, the Greek council president, said. “I know that a big thing that people have is like, ‘Oh the organization’s going to take a part of the money that we’re giving.’ In no way shape or form are we doing that with this fundraiser.”
Kruger said she chose to fundraise for St. Jude because of the impact of the work they do.
“Even though it’s heartbreaking, it also really gives you hope because you see that it’s not just another kid in the hospital in these white, LED-lit environments,” Kruger said. “You hear these great stories of kids who are now living perfectly normal lives because they overcame this when they were like four, and families who can’t afford to have treatment for their kids, but are able to go to St. Jude, and not have to pay a dime.”
“I had a cousin who was born with cancer and was able to survive and have none left remaining after a few years,” Schmuecker said. “I know their research helped a lot with that process, and so just being able to give back in some way to them seems like a great cause.”
“I really want to emphasize that no donation is too small,” Kruger said. “Like if you can’t donate $25, if you can’t donate $100, that is OK. Donating $1, donating a dollar for everyone you know who went through cancer, or something. They add up really, really fast.”
