Red Wolves for St. Jude hosted the Scarlet Formal April 3 at the Woodard McAlister Family Club to celebrate the end of the fundraising year with dinner from Olive Garden, dancing and giveaways.  

At the end of the Scarlet Formal, Red Wolves for St. Jude executives announced the total amount of money raised in the 2024-25 fundraising effort: $71,475, surpassing their goal of $65,000. 

Red Wolves for St. Jude is a philanthropic initiative organized and operated by students at Arkansas State University to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Ambassadors of this student organization can receive an invite to the Scarlet Formal by raising $100 or more for St. Jude. 

Olivia Wham, executive director of Red Wolves for St. Jude, said the Scarlet Formal is a culmination of everything they have worked towards for the year. 

“Showing students that their hard work comes together is very important to create a sense of community,” the senior finance and global supply chain double major from Mountain Home, Arkansas, said. “Red Wolves for St. Jude is not only an organization to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital but also an organization to spread awareness of what we have in our backyard over in Memphis.”

Kristin Rodgers, a Jonesboro woman and mother of a St. Jude patient, attended the event. 

Rodgers said St. Jude gives people hope in the darkest moments of their lives and allows them to focus on getting their child better. 

“You don’t have to worry about bills, you don’t have to worry about where you’re going to eat, anything like that. They just try to make it the happiest place for your child while they’re sick and the least stressful place for a parent,” Rodgers said. “We will do anything to help raise money for St. Jude because we’ve been the recipients of the money that’s been raised.”

Rodgers said she was blown away by how much money was raised by college students. 

“I’m very thankful that college kids can think outside of themselves and do something for others when they could be doing so many other things. They are busy with college and they choose to spend time getting donations and raising money for such a wonderful place,” Rodgers said. 

Wham said it’s hard not to be passionate about raising money for St. Jude. 

“St. Jude is a children’s hospital that gives research from their findings all over the world and has significantly strengthened and advanced the medical community. They also give children world class medical care for free. So that takes a lot of stress off of families,” Wham said. “In my family we’ve had people pass away from cancer and being able to give back and donate to a place that can advance medical care like this, it really warms my heart.”

Christina Green, a first-year nursing major from Memphis, raised $1840 and was recognized as the highest individual fundraiser. 

Green said St. Jude means a lot to her and her family. 

“My mom always worked in the restaurant industry, but she always saw St. Jude as her dream job and she worked hard for it, and she got there, and she’s been there for coming up on four years now and it moved us up to Memphis,” Green said. “It’s cool to know your mom works there, but to know you’re making a difference, kind of on your own, it adds a little bit more. I feel a bit of pride for it, a good amount of pride.” 

Samarahh Leverson, a senior nursing major from Memphis, said she grew up with St. Jude right around the corner, but it wasn’t until college that she began fundraising thousands of dollars for it. 

“I was like, ‘I could never do that’ but then here I am, three years later, continuing to do it and I actually am an executive board member now. So I’m hands on, hands on,” Leverson said. 

She is the Greek life director of Red Wolves for St. Jude. She said the organization did multiple collaborations with Greek life throughout the year, including a National Pan-Hellenic Council cookout that raised over $700 in one night and a virtual 5k run in collaboration with Lambda Chi that raised over $5000. 

Wham said her favorite fundraiser was the head-shaving finale for #Cancerscanceled week in October. 

“We had like 11 different organizations put up one guy and whoever had raised the most money got their head shaved. Shout out Dayne Eckerd, he ended up raising $1,511.53. He was with the BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministries) and he won our heart shaving competition and rocked it,” Wham said. 

She said that, as an organization, Red Wolves for St. Jude does a good job of making it accessible and flexible for anyone wanting to join and raise money for St. Jude. 

“If you really want your hand in every single event, I would highly recommend joining our executive board,” Wham said. 

Executive board applications are open until April 17 at 12 p.m. 12 p.m. The application link can be found on the Red Wolves for St. Jude Instagram profile: @redwolvesforstjude. Ambassador applications will be open at the start of the Fall 2025 semester.

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