Jordan Small
Washingtonspirit.com
Washington Spirit’s Ashley Hatch, Kaiya McCullough, and St. Jude Champion Tori Huster attended St. Jude’s 21st annual Gourmet Gala at the Anthem in Washington, D.C on Thursday, February 27.
The Gala is designed to raise funds to support patients and their families at St. Jude. With 700+ guests in attendance, the event raised over $700,000 to help support the mission of St. Jude. The evening included tastings from 36 restaurants from all over the District and both a live and silent auction.
Richard C. Shadyac, Jr., President and CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising organization for St. Jude spoke about the founding of the organization and why events like the Gourmet Gala are important to its overall success. Crystal Ellwood, the mother of St. Jude patient Stella, also spoke on the impact cancer has had on their family and how St. Jude impacted their lives.
Huster said of the evening: “The Gourmet Gala was a successful evening spent raising funds for the young patients undergoing treatments from St. Jude. We heard from a patient family about the amazing efforts that St. Jude makes to improve not only the health of young kids but the dynamic and lifestyle of the entire family. Families get cancer, not just the patient, and all of the donations from the evening will greatly support the work that St. Jude continues to do.”
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and cures childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. Treatments developed at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to 80 percent since the hospital opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude freely shares the breakthroughs it makes, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing and food—because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.