Matthew Poll and Kevin Jones of Lehi, Utah
by: Kathryn Jones
“Finding cures. Saving children.”
Over 70 years ago, Danny Thomas, who would later become internationally known in the film and television industries, was struggling to make ends meet. He had a baby who would soon enter the world and only $7 in his pocket to place in his church’s collection box. It was only after the offering that he realized what he had done. How would he pay the forthcoming hospital bills? The following day, St. Jude.org states “he was offered a small part that would pay 10 times the amount he’d given to the church. Danny had experienced the power of prayer.”
What followed was “moderate success” and eventually, in 1955, the beginnings of a children’s hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. His dream? “A unique research hospital devoted to curing catastrophic diseases in children (and) a research center for the children of the world regardless of race, religion or financial status.”
It took a lot of work after that, a lot of money raising through Thomas’ benefit shows and meetings, visiting “28 cities in 32 days” to get things off the ground. Funding the annual operation took some grit and help from “his fellow Americans of Arabic speaking heritage,” who, in 1957, “met in Chicago to form ALSAC® with (the) sole purpose of raising funds for the support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital,” a hospital that finally opened its doors in 1962.
On April 20, 2021, Day Trade for Good, became a part of that dream, donating $11,000 to help children suffering from pediatric leukemias to “numerous forms of solid tumors.”