Garden Fresh Partners with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – Second Campaign to Fight Childhood Cancer Begins September 1st!
Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp., parent company of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurants across the nation are joining St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® in their battle to help kids beat cancer and other serious diseases once again with a second campaign.
The passion and effort of the Garden Fresh restaurants teams, combined with the generosity from staff members, suppliers, and most importantly you-our guests, have raised $300,000 to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in our first campaign!
The initial effort that ran from January 15 to the end of February was such a success that Garden Fresh CEO, John Morberg, decided to launch another campaign beginning September 1st and continuing strong to the end of September. “I am so proud of what the entire Garden Fresh team did to support St. Jude in our first campaign and look forward to raising a significant amount of money through the generosity of our guests, the efforts of our team members and the support of our suppliers,” says John.
“As we build on our fundraising success, our ultimate goal is to raise $500,000 a year for St. Jude in two separate campaigns, the one that we’re launching in September and another one next January. That is a stretch goal, but I am confident we can achieve it with focused attention. Helping others beyond ourselves created a spirit of pride in the entire organization and it was heartwarming to see that pride in our first St. Jude fundraiser,” he added.
Patrick Warburton, the voice of our “Discover Fresh” campaign, introduced Garden Fresh to St. Jude after sharing his personal commitment to the hospital’s mission. He hosts an annual celebrity golf tournament that already raises more than $1 million a year. Patrick’s goal is to boost that to more than $2 million, the amount it takes to run St. Jude for just one day. Garden Fresh’s $300,000 contribution to the 2016 golf tournament made it the single largest contributor to the event.
“We’re excited to team with Patrick on such a worthy cause and raise much needed funds for St. Jude. We hope this is the continuation of a great partnership benefiting some very deserving families,” John said.
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 life-threatening diseases. It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to 80 percent since the hospital opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude is working to drive the overall survival rate for childhood cancer to 90 percent, and we won’t stop until no child dies from cancer. St. Jude freely shares the discoveries it makes, 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 www.stjude.org, liking St. Jude on Facebook (www.facebook.com/stjude) and following us on Twitter (@stjude).