'Relay FM' Podcast Network Launches Annual Fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

[MacRumors]

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. To support this important cause, well-known podcast network Relay FM has launched its annual fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, located in Memphis, Tennessee. Since 2019, the Relay FM community has raised nearly $3 million for the hospital.

St. Jude's mission statement is that no child is denied treatment:

The mission of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Consistent with the vision of our founder Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family's ability to pay.

Relay FM has multiple Apple-related podcasts, such as Connected, hosted by Stephen Hackett, Myke Hurley, and Federico Viticci. Hackett's son received treatment at St. Jude as an infant, so this initiative is near and dear to him and his family.

Donations can be made on the Relay FM for St. Jude website, with rewards such as Relay FM stickers, wallpapers, and a macOS screensaver available above certain dollar amounts. The page outlines other ways you can get involved, such as starting your own fundraising campaign, and sharing the page also greatly helps.

Article Link: 'Relay FM' Podcast Network Launches Annual Fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

 

[jarman92]

I wish people would donate to any number of other worthy causes and institutions rather than further pad the bank account of this one organization, which currently has over $8 billion in reserves.

 

[FineWoven]

I wish people would donate to any number of other worthy causes and institutions rather than further pad the bank account of this one organization, which currently has over $8 billion in reserves.

Oh yeah? And what other causes would those be? I'm sure we can find reasons to 💩 on them as well if we look hard enough.

 

[vmachiel]

I wish people would donate to any number of other worthy causes and institutions rather than further pad the bank account of this one organization, which currently has over $8 billion in reserves.

They do great work.

And what reports?

 

[jarman92]

Oh yeah? And what other causes would those be? I'm sure we can find reasons to 💩 on them as well if we look hard enough.

I mean, one doesn't have to look hard to find support for what I said. St. Jude certainly does good work, but they also have plenty of money (far too much for a nonprofit, actually). By its own estimation, St. Jude could comfortably run for the next 5 years without a single additional penny of funding.

There are literally tens of thousands of lesser-known, equally-worthwhile causes that are in actual need of donations. Here is a good article about other children's cancer charities, but a quick Google search will reveal no end of additional options.

 

[hobapolis]

They do great work.

And what reports?

St. Jude Stashed Away $886 Million in Unspent Revenue Last Year

New documents show that St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s reserves grew to $7.6 billion, as other children's cancer nonprofits struggled to raise cash.

www.propublica.org

 

[foobarbaz]

I wish people would donate to any number of other worthy causes and institutions rather than further pad the bank account of this one organization, which currently has over $8 billion in reserves.

Look, I get that you mean well. But what you're saying will just keep people from donating.

People who can afford to donate now will literally stop, and say: I should research those other charities instead. Maybe they actually will, but most likely they'll just forget about it. You're just giving them a convenient excuse for not donating. The list you linked is behind a paywall, too. There goes the momentum …

In reality, many people here (who presumably buy Apple products regularly) could easily donate to St. Jude's and still find other charities to donate to later.

 

[jarman92]

Look, I get that you mean well. But what you're saying will just keep people from donating.

People who can afford to donate now will literally stop, and say: I should research those other charities instead. Maybe they actually will, but most likely they'll just forget about it. You're just giving them a convenient excuse for not donating. The list you linked is behind a paywall, too. There goes the momentum …

In reality, many people here (who presumably buy Apple products regularly) could easily donate to St. Jude's and still find other charities to donate to later.

Maybe. But at a certain point it's actually better—or at least a wash—to not donate at all than to donate to an organization that's hoarding cash. St. Jude cannot spend most of the money they take in every year, and is apparently unwilling to increase their expenditures to, say, accept more patients or expand services.

(And I updated the link with a paywall-free version).

 

[FineWoven]

Maybe. But at a certain point it's actually better—or at least a wash—to not donate at all than to donate to an organization that's hoarding cash. St. Jude cannot spend most of the money they take in every year, and is apparently unwilling to increase their expenditures to, say, accept more patients or expand services.

(And I updated the link with a paywall-free version).

My big tin foil hat theory is that someone somewhere is just sitting on a cure for cancer in a top secret government/big pharma lab and refuses to release it to the public because of how lucrative the disease is for so many charities and the medical industrial complex. I hate to even consider such a cynical yet remote possibility, but given how many other diseases and deadly immune responses we now have a cure for if not total eradication, it does seem a bit odd how little progress has been made on that front, relatively speaking.

 

[jarman92]

My big tin foil hat theory is that someone somewhere is just sitting on a cure for cancer in a top secret government/big pharma lab and refuses to release it to the public because of how lucrative the disease is for so many charities and the medical industrial complex. I hate to even consider such a cynical yet remote possibility, but given how many other diseases and deadly immune responses we now have a cure for if not total eradication, it does seem a bit odd how little progress has been made on that front, relatively speaking.

Haha glad you recognize that's a "tin foil hat theory." Even using the phrase "cure for cancer" makes it readily apparent you aren't well-versed in biology.

 

[FineWoven]

Haha glad you recognize that's a "tin foil hat theory." Even using the phrase "cure for cancer" makes it readily apparent you aren't well-versed in biology.

Well..yeah of course... I have little to back up such a claim and I clearly described it as nothing more than a sinister hunch. You know, the kind that will likely always remain just that, a hunch. But also wouldn't surprise you if it actually turned out to be true either because we know humans are more than capable of such things as encouraging unnecessary suffering for one reason or another. And no, I never claimed to be an oncologist. By using the term "cure" I was deliberately reducing down the complex idea of eradicating cancer into a more broadly understood colloquialism. If I knew I was conversing with such a brilliant PhD biologist then I would have opted for more technical language. So your condescension is wasted on me.

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