About our project
Message in a Melody is a fundraising campaign for the department of pediatric oncology at Mattel Children’s Hospital. Cancer doesn’t have to be a scary word – and that’s our Message in a Melody.
Who We Are
Message in a Melody is a service project of the Electronic Design and Media Collective at UCLA, founded in 2013. Our goal has always been to promote Pediatric Cancer Research by being the only student initiative on campus donating directly to Pediatric Cancer Research initiatives at Mattel Children’s Hospital. Our primary goal is to reach out and use music to connect our community to an important cause that is often overshadowed. With well over 40,000 children and young adults undergoing cancer treatment each year, we want to shed light on these inspiring children, teens, and young adults fighting such a strong battle. By using music, we can connect people from all walks of life together and join us in our cause.
What do we do?
Our campaign spans the entire Winter and Spring term at UCLA, and is full of events that cover pediatric cancer research and music together. By hosting on-campus events that educate students about Pediatric Cancer Statistics in our community (and our current risk as students), we aim to create a more informed student body that can help us in our fight against pediatric cancer. Our events range from daytime DJ performances, nighttime performances featuring a wide assortment of bands, fundraisers off-campus, and informational events that help cover all our interests as a group. Through our work around campus advocating for pediatric cancer using music, we have solidified our position as the only student group that provides a collaborative approach to helping fight pediatric cancer using the popularity of music around us.
At the end of the year, we celebrate our efforts by hosting a huge concert on-campus featuring famous DJs from around the world, as well as student openers, designers, and visual artists. Our concert is a culmination of our work fundraising for Mattel Children’s Hospital, and is used to bring together our student body to join us in our celebration. We will be using visual displays of pediatric cancer, as well as involving students in our message that we want to end pediatric cancer in our lifetime.
Our Inspiration
This idea was first inspired by one of our club members, Elizabeth Matusov, whose high-school friend passed away from pediatric cancer in early December, 2013. Since our time at UCLA, however, we have been further inspired by the children, teens, and young adults battling cancer every day. Each of our members and the students we work with have been affected personally by this cause, and we aim to connect all of those affected individuals into one cause. This organization has allowed us to connect with children, teens, and even fellow UCLA Bruins who have or had pediatric cancer, and use their strength to send a message to our community. 43 children are diagnosed with cancer each day, and our strong belief is that research is the core foundation that will help pediatric cancer see 100% remission rates in this lifetime with a cure.
Why We Need Your Help
Like most new projects, funding is always a challenge but we know with your help the event will be a success and a long-term tradition. With venue bookings, artist, and promotional costs, our efforts are often spent on operational costs to maintain our campaign. It is our hope that we can raise at least $5,000.00 this year for Pediatric Cancer Research. With your help, this event can sustain itself as an annual UCLA tradition, and we can make great change in the field of pediatric cancer. This is our third year, and we are proud to creating a lasting impact on our campus and the community around us as advocates in the fight against Pediatric Cancer.
How We Will Use Your Contributions
All donations raised in the time leading up to the event are going to be donated to the Department of Pediatric Oncology at Mattel Children’s Hospital to benefit the cell therapy clinics. Dr. Moore, who works with the children we get to interact with, is an instrumental part of new research at Mattel Children’s Hospital. This research is exactly what will bring the recovery rate of pediatric cancer to 100%.
The funds are directly used to purchase research supplies that generally are quite expensive. These may include cell lines, antibodies, reagents and other that items that are used in lab experiments. The funds are particularly important in helping our researchers carry on with their work, especially during gap periods between funding, or starting up new projects that have not yet been funded through traditional mechanisms. With funding opportunities becoming more scarce or reduced, funding from private sources becomes the imperative.
Cancer doesn’t have to be a scary word. And that’s our Message in a Melody.
Everyone at EDMC thanks you deeply for your support.
More Information
E-mail Elizabeth – ematusov@ucla.edu
Visit us – messageinamelody.com
THANKS!
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