Danny Thomas was an American actor, singer, nightclub comedian, producer, and philanthropist. He created and starred in the Danny Thomas Show. In addition to guest roles on many of the comedy, talk, and musical variety programs of his time, his legacy includes a lifelong dedication to fundraising for charity. Most notably, he was the founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, a leading center in pediatric medicine with a focus on pediatric cancer. St. Jude now has affiliate hospitals in eight other American cities as of early 2020.
St. Mary's High School is a Catholic secondary school in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It serves most of Kitchener's Catholic students, with others attending Resurrection Catholic Secondary School. Members of its sports teams are known as the Eagles.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a pediatric treatment and research facility located in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded by entertainer Danny Thomas in 1962, it is a 501(c)(3) designated nonprofit medical corporation which focuses on children's catastrophic diseases, particularly leukemia and other cancers. In the 2021 fiscal year, St. Jude received $2 billion in donations. Daily operating costs average $1.7 million, but patients are not charged for care. St. Jude’s covers some, but not all cancer-related costs. St. Jude treats patients up to age 21, and for some conditions, up to age 25.
Delta Delta Delta (ΔΔΔ), also known as Tri Delta, is a global women's fraternity and Greek life organization founded on November 27, 1888 at Boston University by Sarah Ida Shaw, Eleanor Dorcas Pond, Isabel Morgan Breed, and Florence Isabelle Stewart.
Dance marathons are events in which people dance or walk to music for an extended period of time. They started as dance contests in the 1920s and developed into human endurance contests, or exploitative entertainment events during the Great Depression in the 1930s. In the present day, dance marathons are commonly used as fundraisers. These modern marathons are usually 12–24 hours, a far cry from the 1,000-hour marathons of the 1930s.
Epsilon Sigma Alpha International (ΕΣΑ) is a community and collegiate service organization for anyone ages 18 and older. The organization states that its purpose "is to inspire leadership and service by bringing good people together to pursue programs and projects that make a positive difference locally, nationally and internationally."
The Northwestern University Dance Marathon, commonly known as NUDM, is a philanthropic dance marathon held every March at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1975, NUDM is one of the nation's most established and largest entirely student-run philanthropies. NUDM is one of the only annual Dance Marathons in the country to continually change its primary beneficiary. NUDM has raised over $1 million for its beneficiaries each year since 2011, and involves over 1,000 students participating as dancers and committee members. Since 1997, the Evanston Community Foundation has been NUDM's secondary beneficiary.
The American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC) is the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Its sole mission is to raise the funds and awareness necessary for St. Jude's continued operation. ALSAC is the largest healthcare related charity in the United States. The National Executive Office is located in Memphis, Tennessee. ALSAC also has over 30 local fundraising offices located in cities throughout the United States that hold over 30,000 fundraising events annually.
The Canadian Cancer Society is Canada's largest national cancer charity and the largest national charitable funder of cancer research in Canada.
The Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSUSOM) is the medical school of Wayne State University, a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It enrolls more than 1,500 students in undergraduate medical education, master's degree, Ph.D., and M.D.-Ph.D. WSUSOM traces its roots through four predecessor institutions since its founding in 1868.
Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc. (ΛΘΑ) is the first and largest Latina-based sorority, established in 1975 at Kean University by seventeen women of Latin, Caribbean, and European descent as a support system for women in higher education. According to their website, Lambda Theta Alpha states that its focus would be to "actively integrate itself into the social, political and community service arena that other students had been involved with."
The Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR) is the only national charitable foundation that raises awareness to generate funds for research into all aspects of HIV infection and AIDS. Since inception in 1987, CANFAR has invested more than $26 million in research initiatives across Canada, and supported close to 575 distinct research initiatives. CANFAR is funded solely through the generosity of corporations, groups, and individuals across Canada.
The School of St. Jude is a charity-funded school located in the city of Arusha, in the northern Arusha Region of Tanzania. With its three campuses, the school provides free primary and secondary education to children in the Arusha Region. It also provides board for over 1,000 students and employs over 270 local Tanzanian staff members. It was founded by Australian Gemma Sisia in 2002, based on the belief that education is the best way to fight poverty.
Eric Frederick Trump is an American businessman, activist, and former reality television presenter. He is the third child and second son of Donald Trump, and his first wife, Ivana Trump.
Benjamin David "Ben" Bowen, commonly called Big Ben Bowen, was a boy from Huntington, West Virginia, who was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor in 2004. His family has used his story to raise awareness of childhood cancer and to raise almost $4 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
Sharsheret is a nonprofit organization with the goal of supporting Jewish women diagnosed with breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Through its work and research efforts, Sharsheret provides healthcare resources, financial assistance, communal support, and educational programs to thousands of women and their families in the United States. Sharsheret has offices in California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey and New York. They are headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey. Sharsheret primarily works with young women and Jewish families as Ashkenazi Jews are at higher risk of carrying a BRCA gene mutation, but also aids men and women from other backgrounds.
The University of Tennessee College of Medicine is one of six graduate schools of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) in downtown Memphis. The oldest public medical school in Tennessee, the UT College of Medicine is a LCME-accredited member of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and awards graduates of the four-year program Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees. The college's primary focus is to provide practicing health professionals for the state of Tennessee.
The Pittsburgh Penguin's Foundation is a non-profit organization formed on July 20, 2010 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its sponsor was the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Pittsburgh Penguins ownership group. The foundation offers preventive wellness, developmental, and charity programs. It also promotes life skill teaching and activity among youth and families.
Swim Across America Inc., (SAA) is a nonprofit dedicated to raising money and awareness for cancer research, prevention, and treatment. It does so by hosting charity swims and donating the proceeds to a hospital. Since its founding, SAA has granted over $100 million to fund cancer research and clinical trials. More than 100,000 donations a year are made to support participants in Swim Across America charity swims to meet their fundraising goals. The proceeds from SAA charity swims are granted to fund cancer research at world-renowned hospitals such as Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Johns Hopkins.
Bell Let's Talk is a campaign created by the Canadian telecommunications company, Bell Canada, in an effort to raise awareness and combat stigma surrounding mental illness in Canada. It is the largest corporate commitment to mental health in Canada. Originally a five-year, $50 million program to create a stigma-free Canada and drive action in mental health care, research, and the workplace, Bell Let's Talk was renewed in 2015 for five years with a target of committing $100 million, and in 2020, the initiative was renewed for a further five years, and a commitment of $155 million. The most prominent part of the initiative is "Bell Let's Talk Day," an annual one-day advertising campaign held in late-January where money is donated to mental health funds based on the number of social media and communication interactions that include the branded hashtag, #BellLetsTalk, or its Canadian French equivalent, #BellCause.
