Give thanks. Walk.

If there’s one subject I could talk for hours about, it would be St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. I was introduced to St. Jude when I joined my sorority, Delta Delta Delta, my sophomore year of college. As I continued my time in Tri Delta, I learned more about St. Jude and I fell in love with it’s mission and the work they do. I even had the chance to visit St. Jude before my senior year and see the amazing work in person.

If you haven’t heard of St. Jude before, it was established in 1962 in Memphis, TN by the entertainer Danny Thomas. He believed that no child should die in the dawn of life and decide to work to end childhood cancer. When the hospital opened in 1962, the survival rate of the most common form childhood cancer was 4%. Today, thanks to St. Jude the survival rate is 94%.

However, the hospital is incredibly expensive to run. The daily cost of operating St. Jude is over $2 million and the number is covered primarily by the public. 

When I moved out to DC last year, I decided that I wanted to continue volunteering for St. Jude. I immediately signed up for the “St. Jude Give thanks. Walk.” and joined the planning committee. This year, the walk takes place on Saturday, November 22nd and I would like to urge you to join one of the 65 communities across the United States hosting a walk. 

Taking place the weekend before Thanksgiving, this walk is a good reminder to be thankful for the ones around you and all of the amazing things in your life. If you can’t walk, support someone who is or just take the time to remember to be grateful to those around you. If there was one thing I loved about meeting the kids at St. Jude was how happy they were, how excited they were to meet hospital visitors, and how grateful they were for the people in their lives. 

If you need any more convincing, let me leave you with this: no family who has to come to St. Jude ever has to pay. Ever. It doesn’t matter if the family has insurance, doesn’t have insurance, is rich, poor, or from another county. Race, gender, religion does not matter. No St. Jude patient or their family ever has to pay for the medical care they receive. 

Photos c/o Lauren