pledge to build a shrine to the saint if he would show him the way.
In the years that followed, Danny’ s career flourished through films and television, and he became an internationally known entertainer. He remembered his pledge to build a shrine to St. Jude.
In the early 1950s, Danny began discussing with friends what concrete form his vow might take. Gradually, the idea of a children’ s hospital, possibly in Memphis, Tennessee, took shape. In 1955, Danny Thomas and a group of Memphis businessmen who had agreed to help support his dream, seized on the idea of creating a unique research hospital devoted to curing catastrophic diseases in children. More than just a treatment facility, this would be a research center for the children of the world.
Danny started raising money for his vision of St. Jude in the early 1950s. By 1955, local business leaders who had joined his cause began area fundraising efforts, supplementing Danny’ s benefit shows that brought scores of major entertainment stars to Memphis. Often accompanied by his wife, Rose Marie, Danny crisscrossed the United States by car, sharing his dream and raising funds at meetings and benefits. The pace was so hectic that he and Rose Marie once visited 28 cities in 32 days. Although Danny Thomas and his friends raised the money to build the hospital, they now faced the daunting task of funding its annual operation.
To solve this problem, Danny, of Lebanese descent, turned to his fellow Americans of Arabicspeaking heritage. Believing deeply that these Americans should, as a group, thank the United States for the gifts of freedom given their parents, he also felt the support of St. Jude would be a noble way of honoring his immigrant forefathers who had come to America.
Danny’ s request struck a responsive chord. In 1957, 100 representatives of the Arab-American community met in Chicago to form ALSAC with a sole purpose of raising funds for the support of St. Jude Children’ s Research Hospital.
Since that time, with national headquarters in Memphis and regional offices throughout the United States, ALSAC has assumed full responsibility for all the hospital’ s fundraising efforts, raising hundreds
of millions annually through benefits and solicitation drives among Americans of all ethnic, religious and racial backgrounds. Today, ALSAC is the nation’ s second largest health care charity and is supported by the efforts of more than one million volunteers nationwide.
Through striking improvements in the care of pediatric leukemias and numerous forms of solid tumors, St. Jude has brought about improved health care for children all over the world. St. Jude’ s physicians and scientists have pioneered treatments that have helped push the overall survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent, when the hospital opened in 1962, to 80 percent today.
From a promise of“ Help me find my way in life, and I will build you a shrine” to the fulfillment of his dream, Danny lived to see his little hospital become an international beacon of hope for the catastrophically ill children of the world. The founder of St. Jude and ALSAC died on February 6, 1991, just two days after joining patients, parents and employees to celebrate the hospital’ s 29th anniversary. He was laid to rest in a family crypt at the Danny Thomas / ALSAC Pavilion on the grounds of the hospital. On July 12, 2000, Rose Marie passed away and now lies with her beloved husband in the hospital’ s Memorial Garden. Today, their children, Marlo, Terre and Tony, carry on their parents’ work and remain a driving force in fulfilling their father’ s mission. Danny Thomas is gone, but his dream lives on.
St. Jude and the USAPA have been working together for a relatively short period of time, but in just two short years, the governing body of the sport of pickleball has raised nearly $ 25,000!
Because of partners like the USAPA, St. Jude is able to fulfill its mission that families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food— because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. If you have any upcoming tournaments or events and would like to create your own fundraiser for St. Jude around it, please reach out to your St. Jude team at 1.800.457.2444 or email specialevents @ stjude. org and they will help you get started. •
JULY / AUGUST 2018 | MAGAZINE 39