Up 'til Dawn Presents: Poetry for Kids

Jackson State University’s “Up ‘til Dawn” fundraising program along with the Delta Phi chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. hosted an event for St. Judes Children’s Research Hospital called “Poetry for Kids” last Thursday at Koinonia coffee house. Koinonia, which is located on 136 S. Adams Street, brought in many JSU students as well as campus organizations such as the poetry group “Outspoken.” During the event, audience members read poems that patients had written and Outspoken performed original pieces.

Up ‘til Dawn’s assistant director Jermaine Jones is senior computer engineering major from Jackson, Miss. This 21-year-old says that Up ‘til Dawn is active in at least 100 schools across the nation, ten of them being HBCU’s. Jones spoke about how the program raises money.

“Our main way of fundraising is the letter writing campaign,” said Jones. “We send those letters out at the end of the year asking for donations.”

Prior to the event, Up ‘til Dawn had went to Memphis for a retreat and visited St. Judes. There, they found the patient’s poems from A-Z on a wall. Jones talked about the significance of these poems.

“The poems were so powerful,” said Jones. “They were a true testament to feelings and emotions of the kids.”

Jones believes that the Poetry for Kids event was definitely a learning experience, giving attendees a first hand view from the patients and how they feel about the hospital. He believes that these are real positive kids even though they had catastrophic diseases. More needs to be done about the awareness of St. Judes events. So I am writing a story on this event for the C.L. to be published soon. JSU students, as well as Jackson citizens should live by one word-give, give, give! Make donations and give what you can.