I realized last week (during our break that I hope everyone enjoyed) that I completely forgot to write about one of the most important organizations for my family. The name of the organization is St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and I have known about this organization for as long as I can remember. My parents donate monthly to the organization, which is why I have known about it for so long. St. Jude conducts research to treat children with cancer and other terrible diseases. The patients and the research are all done at St. Jude, and it also includes some of the best researchers the field of science has. St. Jude also makes it possible for children whose parents can’t afford treatment to be treated. This organization also brings up one of my biggest regrets, which is not volunteering with St. Jude. I do donate to the organization, but I would love to take some time to actually work with it.
My favorite part of donating to St. Jude has always been the letters that they send to my home monthly. In the letter, they thank us for the donation and tell a story of a child who is being helped by the donation. These stories were always sad, and at first, my mom did not want me reading them, but she eventually gave in when a friend of mine had passed away. I do admit that I have cried many times reading these stories and that I still have every single one of them packed away in my room. Why? Well, it reminds me of why I am donating a part of my paycheck every month and shows me that even though I am lucky enough to be healthy, not everyone is, and those who aren’t need our help. As you could imagine, these letters are very effective and help show the reality of what St. Jude does. Here is an example of the type of letter they send:
No one wants to hear that they have a serious disease, just as no parent wants to hear that for his or her child, but it happens all of the time. I am grateful that I have a healthy family, but I need to help those who are suffering.
Here is the link to the St. Jude website just in case you would like to check it out: http://www.stjude.org/stjude/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=f87d4c2a71fca210VgnVCM1000001e0215acRCRD.
Thanks for reading!
My mom donates to St. Jude as well. It’s an excellent organization for aiding sick children. The Commercials they have with the celebrities advocating to help fund St. Jude always make me smile because it’s good to have even the biggest of names helping the smallest of people in need.
When I was a cashier back home we used to have these little bar codes at the registers you could scan to donate $1, $5, and $10 to St. Jude’s, and I would always ask everyone that came by whether they wanted to donate or not. We were supposed to ask about a lot of things, but more than anything asking people to donate to St. Jude’s just felt like something I should do, rather than had to do. I really like this charity and its mission, so seeing this post brought me back to that. 😀 Thanks, Jess, I really liked this one!
Wow! I actually have never heard of this organization before. But it sounds like it is actually legitimate. One reason for that is because you tend to do your research before you actually become a part of something, so I can trust your opinion.
It’s always amazing to see how much you are willing to do for others and to spread the word to the ones who know very little. It is admirable to know that there are people who care for the less unfortunate, probably because of their own experiences in life.