It takes a village

Have you ever called in or texted to make a donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital during a radiothon? Or bid on an item during a silent auction at a dinner benefiting St. Jude? Perhaps you toured a St. Jude Dream Home and bought a ticket, or cheered on a favorite professional golfer at the FedEx St. Jude Classic.

If you have, then you have encountered some of the most ardent and dedicated supporters of St. Jude: our volunteers.

It is often said that it “takes a village” to accomplish something big or important, but that is not a cliché when it comes to the amazing army of volunteers who support St. Jude. Their willingness to give up their own time to help create amazing fundraising and awareness opportunities for St. Jude is critically important to making sure these events that support the lifesaving work of St. Jude come together and run smoothly.

For example, consider the hard work and dedication that goes into making the annual FedEx St. Jude Classic a truly world-class experience for everyone at this stop on the PGA TOUR in Memphis. About 200 people take time out of their lives and work and pitch in during tournament week. Not only that, they turn their volunteer hours at the tournament into a fundraiser for St. Jude. The Hours for St. Jude program has raised more than $400,000 for St. Jude in just three years.

Or look at the commitment made by the members of Epsilon Sigma Alpha, an international distinguished leadership and service organization. Its members are instrumental to the success of many of our programs, but especially our St. Jude Dream Home^® Giveaway campaign, during which they sell tickets and staff open houses at more than 30 Dream Homes across the country. Since adopting St. Jude as their international philanthropic project in 1972, these incredible volunteers have also helped raise more than $200 million for the kids of St. Jude.

Even now, committees of volunteers in dozens of communities from California to New York are already hard at work planning the St. Jude Walk/Run to End Childhood Cancer, held every year in September during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Because of their help — and the generosity of donors like you throughout the country — St. Jude is able to continue searching for cures for childhood cancer and other diseases that threaten children’s lives and to ensure that no family will ever receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food. At St. Jude, we believe that all a family should worry about is helping their child live.

I also want to share some good news with you. For the fourth year in a row, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has been named the Health Non-Profit Brand of the year based on the 2017 Harris Poll EquiTrend^® Equity Score, which measures brand health. And, for the third year in a row, the St. Jude brand was ranked the highest quality brand of the more than 4,000 brands included in this study of 100,000 U.S. consumers.           

This means parents all over the world will know about the resource that is St. Jude. This recognition and our work is made possible because of people like you who care enough to volunteer and donate to support the lifesaving mission of St. Jude: Finding cures. Saving children.^® Thank you for choosing to be a part of the St. Jude family