“Our slogan is ‘let's make it happen,’” neuroscience senior Colin Seitz said.

Last year, Seitz along with other MSU students, started their own campus chapter of the state-wide group, Kids Without Cancer, a group based out of Detroit. 

The group's ultimate goal is to eliminate childhood cancer by providing funding for the research at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan.

“Being at Michigan State, I didn’t think I’d really be able to help or do much volunteering, since I was in East Lansing,” president and co-founder Michael Conklin said. “I saw U-M had a chapter, so I thought MSU should have a chapter too.”

Every year, approximately 12,000 children in the U.S. are diagnosed with cancer — that’s about 32 kids a day. Of those kids diagnosed with cancer, 20 to 25 percent of them are not cured. 

“Cancer’s one of those things that needs funding, that needs research,” biomedical laboratory science senior Michael Pascoe said. “The more people that help that, it just benefits the medical field.”

Still, Conklin said children’s cancer is the least funded of all cancer research. All types of childhood cancers combined only receive about 4 percent of U.S. federal funding for cancer research.

Seitz said last year, their group raised more than $3,000. At an event called the Motor City Quack Attack, Kids without Cancer, according to their website, raised $15,680 altogether.

“A lot of people would come up and ask you what was going on,” co-founder and genomics and molecular genetics senior Alex Samborski said. “It felt good being able to answer that and make people aware of what’s happening and what our organization is about.”

This year, members with the most volunteer hours at the end of the month will have the opportunity to go to Sparrow Hospital in East Lansing. Members will be able to visit with pediatric patients and work on art projects — it’s something new the group hasn’t done before.

“I’m really looking forward to getting hands on (experience), because I’ve never been able to do anything like that before,” premedical freshman Elyse Seitz said, who wants to be a pediatrician. 

There are ways people can help out without being a member of the group. Kids Without Cancer often partners with local East Lansing businesses to fundraise. Recently, the group partnered with Insomnia Cookies and received a percentage of their sales.

The group will also be receiving all of the cover charges Harper's Restaurant and Brewpub collects on Nov. 12. Other events the group has planned include a charity dodgeball tournament and a bake sale and pet a puppy event.