On Saturday, Sept. 12, Northeast State Community College hosted the Walk for St. Jude, a fundraising event for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The hospital provides cutting-edge technology and research to juvenile cancer treatment in the region. Fundraisers such as Walk for St. Jude allow the hospital to provide these services at no cost. St. Jude has an affiliate clinic at Niswonger Children’s Hospital that provides these services to East Tennessee.
The St. Jude Walk East Tennessee brought together community members and cancer survivors who raised more than $170,000 for the organization. The atmosphere was lively with plenty of music, food and colorful attire. Many walking groups wore matching shirts that honored specific St. Jude patients. Some survivors walked.
One survivor, Adrienne Hughes, walked with her family. Hughes was diagnosed with cancer when she was 7 years old. She has now been in remission for 13 years. This past spring she had her final appointment at St. Jude. Her family referred to this last visit as bittersweet, feeling like leaving a second home.
This was not Hughes’ first Walk for St. Jude. Several years before, one of her friends was diagnosed with cancer. That year, Hughes pushed her friend in a wheelchair while skating behind.
The event drew support from many fiscal sponsors and volunteers. Many of those volunteers came from ETSU.
“We’ve basically been here to fill the gaps in any way we can,” said Delaney Morris, an executive member of Bucs for St. Jude. “Today, we helped with setup, we helped run the Tri-Cities Airport station, where kids are decorating on the airplanes and we have a water station over on the course where we can help cheer, and then hand out waters to the people participating in the walk/run.”
Bucs for St. Jude is an ETSU student organization that began at Quillen College of Medicine. Now, it is open to undergraduate students as well. Throughout the year, the organization provides lots of volunteer support to St. Jude alongside being a top fundraising team.
“Our biggest fundraisers are definitely this and the pickleball tournament,” Morris said, describing the other events Bucs for St. Jude plans to have this year. “Then we have a prom in the spring that is more of an event for the kids. It will be like a prom for all the St. Jude kids. They’ll come to ETSU in the Culp Center and get to dress up and we’ll have a big event for them.”
For students interested in joining, Morris encourages them to join the GroupMe chat. Students may also reach out to Cheri Clavier, the organization’s adviser, for more information.
