Posted on December 13, 2018.
By Thomas Sellers Jr.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis has benefited from a generous autumn. Donations have been flowing into the hospital founded in 1962 for pediatric treatment. It is also a research facility focused on children’s catastrophic diseases, particularly leukemia and other cancers. The annual marathon held the first Saturday in December racked up nearly $12 million. Then St. Jude picked up a historic contribution of $50 million from AbbVie, a research based globally biopharmaceutical company. That money will be used to support the construction of a new Family Commons on the St. Jude campus. It will be a treatment-free floor that gives families a space to relax and recover, while staying close to their loved ones who are being treated. Closer to home in Tipton County, a trio of Munford High School students Kaleigh Gardner, Gabby Thompson and Destany Bowman sparked an effort to raise $1,507.42 to donate to St. Jude in November. “September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month,” Gardner noted. “That’s one of the biggest deals for us. And we were looking for places to give back. We thought of St. Jude. We found out St. Jude has helped increase survival rates from 20 percent to 80 percent. We knew giving money and contributing to foundations like that would be a success.” Thompson noted how cancer effects us all. When her 16-year-old friend endured a bone marrow transplant over the summer, she was ready to do something to help. “Her operation was about $80,000,” Thompson recalled. “I don’t the exact money but it was a lot. So maybe just a little bit of money could go to help a family at St. Jude. It can go to one person to make sure they have a bed at night.” With their purpose defined, the girls got some help from their FCCLA chapter to organize fundraisers throughout the school earlier this fall. One donation event was Constitution Day with everybody dressing up in Red, White and Blue. Students had a chance to donate $3 to participate in the day. Bowman noted the Game Night event held during a Munford Cougar Football game was a fun way for all ages to donate for the cause. “It took about three months,” Thompson said. “We started in September. A representative came down to our school Nov. 2 and we presented her the check.” In addition the girls handed over 3,486 school supply items for St. Jude.
“I’m hoping that people will try to reach and do even bigger things,” Bowman concluded. “I don’t think we’ve ever done anything like this before like we did with St. Jude.”
