Westfield RRT Assists St. Jude Walk/Run hosted at The Meadowlands Racetrack on September 16

On Saturday, September 16th, the Westfield Rapid Relief Team joined forces with the St. Jude Hospital at The Meadowlands Racetrack, East Rutherford, New Jersey in a walk with the hope to end Childhood Cancer.  The St. Jude Hospital is committed to end Childhood Cancer, and its treatments and extensive research have helped push the survival rate from 20% to more than 80% in the last 54 years.

St. Jude Hospital is ranked the top in the nation and daily operation costs are over $2 million which is mostly funded by the public’s contributions.  Children suffering with cancer and catastrophic diseases receive the care needed and the families are never charged for treatment, travel, housing, or food.  Due to the fact that the St. Jude Hospital is a research hospital, most services and treatments are not covered by insurance.  For this reason, it relies on around 75% of their funding to come from generous donors.  Only approximately 14% of their funds comes from insurance recoveries and around 9% comes from grants.

The Westfield RRT volunteers helped with this event by setting up tents, tables, and signs before the event began.  Then, as participants started to arrive, the volunteers assisted with the registration process.  During the event, volunteers were kept busy handing out water, and cheering on the runners.

Handing out water bottles to the  runners

The event was a great success, raising over $80,000 in funds for the St. Jude Hospital towards the continuation of research, care programs, and treatments for the children that are afflicted with childhood cancer!

The RRT group photo

RRT looks forward to supporting St. Jude in its future endeavors. Thanks to all who supported!!