St. Jude Walk/Run 2015 – Moms For St. Jude #ShowYourGold

This past Saturday, I participated in the St. Jude Walk/Run in Washington, DC. This event was being held in 58 cities across the country, and I was excited to participate. Even more exciting for me is that this was the first 5K I’ve done where I’ve actually put together a team. Before I ever visited St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, I was a supporter a donor. However, after having the opportunity to visit them on two occasions, and see first-hand just how many lives are being changed, saved and transformed, I knew I needed to get involved!

After my last trip, I talked to my kids about St. Jude and then we read the book I purchased called the “ABC’s of Cancer” written by the children of St. Jude. This book made it that much easier to explain to them about childhood cancer. And with September being Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, it was also a great opportunity to remind them of that fact with this walk.

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I was so proud of them for doing the walk with me (choice or not lol), and they were troopers for their first 5K with my Moms For St. Jude team.  Huge thanks to LBD Print House for getting our team shirts printed in time for the walk! Each team member was gifted a T-shirt simply for joining and donating.

Moms for St. Jude Tees

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And let’s be clear that it was a walk/run for a reason. We decided to pace ourselves and we did take in the sights because while we live just outside of the city, it’s not often we take a stroll around the capital and all of the monuments.

Here is a short interview I did with Fox 5 DC about the walk:


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They usually see the monument from the car. And it’s definitely not often that we walk past the White House. They’ve only been inside once, so they were excited to see it on the walk.

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I am so grateful for all of the ladies (and one special man not pictured, husband of Runway Moms For a Cause) that came out to show their support, including those that donated online but couldn’t physically be there. We came out in full force, and they had every opportunity for us to #ShowYourGold.

St. Jude walk/run 2015 #momsforstjude

St. Jude walk/run 2015 #momsforstjude

St. Jude walk/run 2015 #momsforstjude

St. Jude walk/run 2015 #momsforstjude

After meeting Ashley (DontDieAfraid.com) two weeks prior, she joined my team and donated no questions asked. THANK YOU!

St. Jude walk/run 2015 #momsforstjude

I hear a lot of questions about why people still need to donate to St. Jude because don’t they get so much money in donations? Well, what a lot of people don’t know is that it takes $2 MILLION to run the hospital daily…multiply that by 365. Right. 75% of these costs are covered by public donations. Until there’s a cure for childhood cancer, there will be a need for the fundraising.

St. Jude walk/run 2015 #momsforstjude

I really loved the fact that we were reminded throughout the walk and before we began, why we were there. These little warriors are fighting the biggest fights of their lives daily, so walking a 5K is a walk in the park.

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The fact that families never receive a bill from St. Jude (not for housing, travel, food or otherwise) is simply amazing to me. While I am blessed to have healthy children, I can only imagine how much lighter the load is to care for a sick child without having to worry about how you’re going to finance the care.

Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to more than 80% since it opened more than 50 years ago.

St. Jude walk/run #momsforstjude

We even had babies out here joining the fight!

Every single donation counts because there is still work to be done. Although the walk/run has ended, the fight continues. If you would still like to donate to St. Jude, you can simply click here to add your donation.

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Today may be the last day of the month, but there’s still time for you to #ShowYourGold and support the mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. I’m so glad I was able to experience this opportunity to support an amazing cause with my children. I don’t know if the younger two full understand the cause, but they were surely excited to have participated!

How do you get your kids involved in causes that matter to you?

 

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25 Comments

  • Nancy
    September 30, 2015 at 7:38 AM

    I love that your kids participated with you and had the opportunity to learn the importance of giving back! The images make me miss DC

    • Christine St.Vil
      October 2, 2015 at 2:32 AM

      I didn’t realize you used to be in this area Nancy! But we did have the perfect location and weather for the walk 🙂

  • Sasha-Shae
    September 30, 2015 at 12:12 PM

    This seemed like it was a ton of fun and for such a great cause! It’s awesome seeing that your kids also came out and they were eager to learn about what it all meant. Love the t-shirts you had designed as well for the cause Christine!
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  • kita
    September 30, 2015 at 3:26 PM

    I love this I want to do something for a cause myself and was thinking of starting with something. I normally take my kids to the homeless shelter around Thanksgiving and forgo a traditional thanksgiving because I want them to be thankful for the little that we do have. Getting kids involved is good for their soul so they can see all aspects of life
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    • Christine St.Vil
      October 2, 2015 at 2:30 AM

      Now that my kids are getting older, we can take them to more community service based activities like those. I so agree that it is good for their soul!

  • Chasing Joy
    September 30, 2015 at 4:13 PM

    What a great cause. Awesome of you to organize a team.
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  • Mimi "MimiCuteLips" Green
    September 30, 2015 at 8:33 PM

    Nice recap, St. Jude is amazing. I’ve always donated but I never really knew the details of how they worked. Never getting a bill OUTSTANDING. I always donate at Wendy’s and by Shopping at Ann Taylor Loft.

    I will certainly beef up my efforts to help them out.
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    • Christine St.Vil
      October 2, 2015 at 2:23 AM

      Yay! On behalf of St. Jude, THANK YOU for your donations and shopping with their partners because every dollar counts 🙂

  • Nicole (Nicole's Lifestyle Lounge)
    October 1, 2015 at 3:11 AM

    This was awesome. Thanks for also dropping the knowledge on how much it takes to run such an operation.
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    • Christine St.Vil
      October 2, 2015 at 2:22 AM

      Thanks Nicole! I was floored when I first heard about the amount it takes. It put a lot of things into perspective.

  • Patranila
    October 1, 2015 at 1:34 PM

    It’s interesting, I usually let them find causes that matter to them and find that they’re much more eager to participate and help.
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    • Christine St.Vil
      October 2, 2015 at 2:20 AM

      Yeah since my kids are younger, they haven’t quite grasped that concept lol. But when we talked about it, they were eager to participate.

  • Stacie
    October 1, 2015 at 2:59 PM

    I’ve never participated in a walk/run before.It would be cool to do so for such a worthy cause.
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    • Christine St.Vil
      October 2, 2015 at 2:19 AM

      I agree Stacie! There are so many that happen and I think it takes a stressful situation and brings hope.

  • Camesha | Mama Motivator
    October 2, 2015 at 1:45 AM

    I haven’t done one of these in a while. I love that your kids got involved with you. St. Jude’s is an awesome cause.

    • Christine St.Vil
      October 2, 2015 at 2:18 AM

      It was a while for me. I love St. Jude and the kids were excited when we talked about why we were doing and how we were helping.

  • MJ
    October 2, 2015 at 7:45 AM

    I love your commitment to St. Jude. I’m sad I missed the walk this year but next year I’ll have the kids in tow. This fight is so important and the families need our support.

    • Christine St.Vil
      October 2, 2015 at 1:43 PM

      Awwww thanks so much MJ! This fight really is so important so thank you for your willingness to support!

  • Ramona
    October 2, 2015 at 1:36 PM

    St. Judes is a great cause. It looks like you guys had a fun time. Thanks for help spread awareness on childhood cancer. Now, I need to find a race to support too.

    I enjoyed reading your story.
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  • Valerie
    October 2, 2015 at 8:32 PM

    This is a very worthy cause! Am very happy to support this org as well for childhood cancer. Loving all the photos and smiling faces.
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