This past Saturday afternoon, e-sports star Benjamin Lupo set off on a mission to raise $2 million in 24 hours for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The 32-year-old husband and father from Oma…
This past Saturday afternoon, e-sports star Benjamin Lupo set off on a mission to raise $2 million in 24 hours for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
“Bro, are you kidding me?” Lupo blurted before covering his mouth. He turned away from the camera as his eyes welled with tears. Thomas, a nightclub comedian who starred in the hit sitcom “Make Room for Daddy,” made some of his first public appeals for fundraising during appearances on “The Tonight Show” and in a 1957 installment of the CBS celebrity interview series “Person to Person” with Edward R. Murrow.
Today, St. Jude has an operating budget of $1 billion and treats about 8,500 children a year. Annual donations have climbed from about $600 million in 2009 to $1.7 billion last year. The National Cancer Institute estimated that about 16,000 people under the age of 20 were diagnosed with cancer in 2018. Of those, about 1,800 are estimated to have died.with an average contribution of $43.25. Unlike other charities of St.
Shadyac Jr. and Thomas’ children — Marlo, Terre and Tony — are among a number of second- and third-generation family members to be active in the leadership of St. Jude. Marlo Thomas, an accomplished actor, author and activist, has long been a public face of St. Jude and its fundraising efforts. Third-generation Thomas family members active in the organization include musician Jason Thomas Gordon, son of Terre Thomas.
Born Muzyad Yakhoob in Deerfield, Mich. in 1912, Thomas grew up in a poor family of nine children in the Toledo, Ohio area. His entry into the entertainment business came at the age of 11 when he got a job selling candy and cigarettes at a burlesque house. The gig gave him the chance to study the comedians and entertainers that performed in between the strip tease acts. He was hooked., by late 1937 Thomas was married, living in Detroit had just become a father with the birth of Marlo.
Thomas never forgot the horror of seeing his younger brother go into convulsions after being bitten by a rat in his crib. Years later, Thomas was deeply moved by a newspaper story he read about a black boy in the south who died after being hit while riding a bicycle by a white man in a car. The man tried to bring to boy to three different hospitals but they refused to admit him.
In the early days, Thomas relied on his friends and Hollywood associates to drive much of the fundraising effort with the general public. Jack Benny, George Burns, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Jerry Lewis, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jackie Gleason were among the stalwarts. Thomas himself was not only a TV star but“The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Gomer Pyle, USMC” and “The Mod Squad.”
Thomas dictum that “No child should die in the dawn of life” remains a guiding principle for those who work for St. Jude. His accomplishments are a testament to the power of faith and his drive to make a difference. “The only thing he wanted on his tombstone was for it to say ‘Founder’ of St. Jude,” Tony Thomas said.St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital had its first major breakthrough treating pediatric leukemia in 1966. Since then the institution has had scores of success stories in battling cancer in children who might not otherwise have had a chance. St. Jude’s stated mission is to keep working until “no child dies of cancer.
“The air that you breathe there is surprisingly positive,” said Luis Fonsi, the Latin music superstar who has been affiliated with St. Jude since 2006. “It’s always about ‘What can we do to keep saving lives? What can we do to make sure nobody loses their battle today?’ That’s the environment.”
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