St. Jude Children's Research Hospital® honors corporate partners for excellence in giving to find cures, save children

MEMPHIS, Tenn., July 2, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The ALSAC/St. Jude Boards of Directors and Governors for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital^® honored some of its corporate partners, including Kmart, Domino's, Justice & Brothers, Chili's Grill & Bar and Mazda North American Operations, for their extraordinary efforts to raise awareness and funds for the hospital's lifesaving work.

The presentation was part of the ALSAC/St. Jude Volunteer Appreciation Awards dinner in Memphis, Tennessee, where ALSAC/St. Jude CEO Richard Shadyac Jr. and Terre Thomas, daughter of Danny Thomas, presented the awards.

Kmart received the Extraordinary Partner Performance Award, recognizing its exceptional performance during the St. Jude Thanks and Giving® campaign—raising nearly $22 million for the hospital between September and December 2013.

St. Jude recognized Domino's as the St. Jude Thanks and Giving Partner of the Year and Justice & Brothers as the New St. Jude Thanks and Giving Partner of the Year. Chili's received the Corporate Pioneer Award and St. Jude honored Mazda North American Operations as the New Corporate Partner of the Year.

"St. Jude is blessed to have the support of these remarkable partners," said Shadyac. "Each one has truly made a difference in the fight against childhood cancer by helping St. Jude raise the funds and awareness that enable us to continue our lifesaving work. We are so proud of their efforts, and we offer our heartfelt thanks and gratitude for their success on behalf of our children and their families."

Since joining St. Jude Thanks and Giving in 2006, Kmart associates, shoppers and Shop Your Way members have raised more than $59 million to support St. Jude, and helped raise national awareness of the hospital through various initiatives, including celebrity media events.

Chili's began its partnership with St. Jude in 2002 and has since raised more than $50 million through its September campaign. Last year, Chili's celebrated early fulfillment of its $50-million, 10-year commitment to the Chili's Care Center, home of the Radiological Sciences department, Bone Marrow Transplant inpatient unit, Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium, and research labs for Pathology, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Virology .

Domino's raised more than $4 million for St. Jude through St. Jude Thanks and Giving, by offering customers the option of special meal bundles that included a donation to the hospital, or by adding a donation to their order. Their donation is part of the restaurant's 2012 pledge to raise $10 million for St. Jude by 2015, and naming the Assessment and Triage Clinic Delivered by Domino's on the St. Jude campus.

Justice & Brothers raised $1.8 million through in-store promotions in its first year as a St. Jude Thanks and Giving partner. Mazda, through its "Mazda Drive for Good™" charitable giving campaign, featured the hospital and founder Danny Thomas in its television advertising and donated $100 for every test drive, new Mazda purchased or leased, and an hour of charitable service between Nov. 25, 2013, and Jan. 2, 2014. Customers had the option to select St. Jude as one of four national charities in which to direct the $100 donation.

Created by Marlo, Terre and Tony Thomas, the St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign utilizes a multimedia approach to unite celebrities, media and corporate partners during the holiday season in support of the groundbreaking research and lifesaving treatment that takes place at St. Jude. It costs $2 million to operate the hospital each day, and unlike other hospitals, more than 75 percent of that funding comes from the public through campaigns such as St. Jude Thanks and Giving.

About St. Jude Children's Research Hospital®     
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other deadly diseases. St. Jude has the world's best survival rates for the most aggressive childhood cancers, and treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to 80 percent since we opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude is working to drive the overall survival rate for childhood cancer to 90 percent in the next decade. St. Jude freely shares the breakthroughs we make, 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 or food – because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. Join the St. Jude mission by visiting stjude.org or following St. Jude on facebook.com/stjude and twitter.com/stjude.

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SOURCE ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital