Are good causes in November too much of a good thing?

By Abby  Smith

November is the month for Prematurity Awareness, Alzheimer’s Awareness, Prostate Cancer Awareness, American Diabetes Awareness, International Survivors of Suicide Awareness, along with many other designations. Among those mentioned above, four have been promoted on campus mostly in the same week.

The various needs of good causes can be overwhelming, according to Sarah Reed a sophomore education major.

“We get so many emails about this going on or that going on but there’s so many of them that I don’t pay attention to it; I just delete it,” Reed said.

Phi Beta Lambda, the business organization, took on the promotion of Prematurity Awareness because it is their national philanthropy. National Prematurity Awareness Day was November 17.

“We will be celebrating Prematurity Awareness Day by asking everyone on campus to wear purple” said Lynnie Ritter head of the March of Dimes Committee under PBL.

The senior nursing students held an event to raise awareness and knowledge of Alzheimer’s Disease. They held an event in the student center that  encouraged student participation with prizes.

There was also a table set up all week for the International Survivors of Suicide. Those involved encouraged students to support the survivors by picking up a bracelet or sticker while they shared some statistics about suicide.

Although Prostate Cancer Awareness does not seem to be openly discussed, many people take part in supporting the cause without realizing it. “No Shave November” is not only a trend, but a worthy cause for those suffering from prostate cancer.

“I didn’t know it supported something, I thought people were just being lazy,” said David Carlisle, a sophomore elementary education major.

With the abundance of awareness activities, the question is raised “are they successful?”

Ritter says portions of their efforts are well received.  

“We have been selling the awareness bracelets all week from 11:00 to 1:00 in the student center and we have been very successful,” Ritter said.

Other attempts are less successful since students are still left unaffected. “I saw the suicide table, but I don’t know who was running it,” senior John Nicholson said.