On the recordFebruary 15, 2012
For 50 years, the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has been one of the leading facilities for researching and treating catastrophic diseases in children. Every year, nearly 8,000 children are treated at St. Jude. That's why I'm proud of a group of friends back in my hometown who, for 36 years, have been raising money for St. Jude through an annual auction. When the auction started, the first goal they set and reached was $10,000. Well, that has long since been eclipsed. This year was another record-breaking year. The Minden, Louisiana, St. Jude auction held earlier this month raised $1,065,235 to help the ongoing work of saving children's lives. So thank you to Melissa Brown and Christie Ruple, the cochairs of the Minden St. Jude auction. And thank you to Pete Treat who, after suffering the terrible loss of his 5-year-old daughter to leukemia, started the Minden St. Jude auction and now has had the privilege of watching that auction raise more than $1 million for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. ____________________
