The Common Grounds Coffeehouse in the basement of Akers Hall hummed with conversation as about 50-60 students scribbled on envelopes and donation forms during the fourth annual Up 'til Dawn Letter Writing Party.
The Tuesday night event was held to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
"We are raising money for any kind of protocol they are working on at this time," said Kerry Wakefield, a public relations chairwoman for Up 'til Dawn. "It's for childhood cancer and other catastrophic diseases, such as tumors."
Each participant brought 50 names and addresses of friends and family. Raffle tickets were awarded for every 20 envelopes filled, and letters were written asking for donations to help fund research.
Andrew Castillon, a human biology sophomore, said he did not have a personal monetary goal, but "anything is helpful."
"I knew what St. Jude's was all about and thought I could help them out," Castillon said.
St. Jude pitched the idea of having Up 'til Dawn on campus in 2000 because of student interest - 120 colleges nationwide participate in the program.
"They were getting so many requests from college students who wanted to help and believed in the cause," she said.
Eight-year-old Francis Masters, who has leukemia, was present to encourage people in their task. Masters went to St. Jude for treatment and said she felt much better.
This was her second outing to boost support for the research center.
"I like to help raise money for St. Jude," she said. "I think it's good."
St. Jude cured 80 percent of acute lymphoblastic leukemia cases in 2003 and 90 percent of cases of Hodgkin disease, a cancer of lymph nodes.
The hospital specializes in cases of newly diagnosed or suspected cancer and genetic diseases in children.
Last year Up 'til Dawn donated $36,000 to St. Jude, with 95 percent of the donations coming from the letter campaign. Wakefield, an advertising senior, said she thinks the success of the letters stems from name recognition.
The number of participants has doubled since previous events and donation amounts have increased by as much as 300 percent over the past years.
As a result, Wakefield said Up 'til Dawn hopes to raise as much as $100,000 this school year.
Michelle Werts, executive director of Up 'til Dawn and a political theory and constitutional democracy senior, said she expected people would be coming in and out throughout the night.
Various acts performed to boost participants' morale in the later hours, but Werts said she didn't expect people to come just to see them.
"The way we set it up, people have to participate in order to see the acts," she said.
