Every September, it is my privilege to play a small part in the enormous enterprise of the Relay St. Jude Fundraiser. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, located in Memphis, Tennessee, is one of the premier research hospitals in the world, treating and researching childhood cancer and other diseases.

If your child has cancer, St. Jude will be there for you, and you will never receive a bill — no strings attached.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is one of the largest research hospitals in the world. When St. Jude opened fifty years ago, the childhood cancer survival rate was 20%. Now, partly due to St. Jude’s efforts, it’s 80%. As successful as they’ve been, they’re not satisfied. They want to wipe out childhood cancer, and they are relentless in their efforts.

Unlike most hospitals, the majority of their funding comes from donors. My friend Stephen has a personal experiencewith St. Jude that you can read about. But regardless, this is a worthwhile cause.

Many of us are about to send a lot of money Apple’s way as they announce their fall lineup of products. When doing that, perhaps think about sending some money to St. Jude as well. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting several people from St. Jude over the years, and they are singularly devoted to their cause. Also, look into employee matching at your company. The Walt Disney Company is very generous; each year, we double our contribution through my wife’s employment matching.

It’s September and that means it’s time for the annual Relay St. Jude Fundraiser. St. Jude’s mission is simple: Take care of children with life-threatening diseases and do it for free. That’s right. This is a charity that takes care of kids with cancer and doesn’t bankrupt their parents in the process. 

Relay’s goal this year is nearly $500,000. If they can hit that number, it will make the total contribution over the past several years over $2M. This year Relay even has some fun swag if you donate.

Every year Daisy and I save to make a St. Jude donation and I can tell you it feels pretty great pushing that button. This year was strange since I quit my big boy job, but we still stave enough to donate the value of an Apple Watch Ultra. The thing is, however, if everyone that reads this post would give just $5, it would eclipse my donation. That’s right. If all of you skip Starbucks tomorrow and give $5 to St. Jude, you can save some lives. Why not?