***Opinions and content are my own and in no way affiliated with Bobby Bones, The Bobby Bones Show, or iHeart Media***
At the end of his “Million Dollar Show” at the Ryman on April 3rd, nationally syndicated morning radio host, Bobby Bones’ team/band (The Raging Idiots)/brand, will have raised about $22 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Yeah…$22 million in total donations collected since 2014 is A TON of money.
In advance of the show, how, you might ask, are those donations put to work at the hospital?
A quick search provides the following fact: 82% of every $1 will be used in support of St. Jude’s mission “to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment.“
The efficiency of the dollars spent has landed St. Jude on the on the Forbes 2023 list of “Top Charities” list in 2023 at #4. St. Jude is the top “Medical” charity on the listing and sits behind only Feeding America, Good 360, and the United Way with $2.5 billion in total private donations in 2023.
So, St. Jude is top notch, but back to Bobby Bones’ $22 million raised….
The ratios tell us that over $18 million will be used to save kids’ lives and to support families supporting loved ones through the most dire of circumstances.
The thing is, St. Jude WILL NEVER BILL A PATIENT OR THEIR FAMILY. Bills have to, though, be paid – for doctors and nurses salaries, for facilities, for research labs, for fundraising, and for fundraising leadership staff. That’s where the donations will go, not:
Co-pays
Deductibles
Temporarily renting an apartment nearby
Not to additional food costs.
No travel costs to get there for families.
No counseling charges.
No tutoring charges to keep up with school.
There will be NOTHING for families to pay for. The only focus is on getting their sick kid better.
These treatments are EXPENSIVE. If the average treatment of the type fulfilled at St. Jude is $1 million (inclusive of travel and other costs), that means that since 2014, the generosity of Bobby Bones’ donations has fully paid for the treatment of 2.2 kids per year. With survival rates for the these types of stays in the neighborhood in the 80% range (btw: these were 20% when St. Jude opened in the 1960’s), that says that Bones and his #BTeam of supporters have saved a full classroom of kids over a decade of giving – A FULL CLASSROOM!!!
Not only has Bones’ and team saved one classroom, it has helped create an army of young people that will do the same in perpetuity. This seed will continue to grow and grow.
Today, when I dropped my kids off at school, I looked around the room full of crazy, hyper, elementary energy and thought, ‘Man, what if all of these kids received an awful diagnosis? And, even worse, they did not have the resources to fight it?’
That’s a sobering reality when applied to familiar faces, friends, and their families.
I’d encourage everything to do something similar – at baseball practice, dance class, on your kids’ Fortnite screen, or while waiting for the school day to start. Just visualize the impact of the money raised by Bones, The Raging Idiots, the iHeart Media Radiothon he leads, and the upcoming “Million Dollar Show” has in creating more healthy, happy kids.
Man, we’re fortunate – for places like St. Jude and celebrities like Bones’, his famous friends, and the hoards of fans that can raise MASSIVE amounts to save lives.
As a result of that work, like the “Million Dollar Show” at the Ryman on April 3rd, sick kids and their families have a chance to, simply, get well soon.
Can’t go to the Million Dollar Show, but want to donate to St. Jude? Click here.
