There is no greater tragedy than for a child to be diagnosed with a life-threatening disease in the dawn of their lives, when they have the whole world before them. And yet thousands of families are forced to live this nightmare every year, with no easy answers.
That is why, this Thursday, October 11, 2018, Block O’Toole & Murphy will be hosting the 26th annual Autumn Wine Tasting to benefit The St. Jude Children’s Hospital. St. Jude serves as a beacon of hope, supporting the children and families who have been given the dreaded news that no parent should ever have to receive.
There is no more noble cause than the one St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital undertakes. Their mission is to help cure and prevent childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases through research and treatment. St. Jude, by leading the fight against pediatric cancer, is responsible for restoring the hopes and dreams of sick children and their families. Miraculously, they provide the treatment and much needed support at no cost to a patient’s family. St. Jude wants a patient’s family to only have to worry about the health of their child because nothing is more important. This means that St. Jude heavily relies on donations to continue their valiant efforts.
This is expensive work, and the numbers highlight how critical it is to donate if you can: it costs more than $2.3 million dollars a day to run St. Jude’s, and more than a billion dollars a year.
Supporting St. Jude’s efforts in researching, treating and curing pediatric life-threatening diseases is extremely important to Block O’Toole & Murphy. Partner and Event Chair Stephen Murphy lost a young cousin to leukemia, while Partner Daniel O’Toole lost a niece to cancer in the prime of her life. Tragic stories such as these are all too common, and that is why the entire firm is so dedicated to helping St. Jude in their cause.
Block O’Toole & Murphy has been hosting this event since 2007, and in that time over $4 million dollars have been raised in support of the cause. The event regularly draws more than 700 attendees and includes professionals from more than 70 law firms, drawn largely from the networks of the committee members responsible for organizing the event: Stephen Murphy, Daniel O’Toole, Jeffrey Block, Joseph Donahue, Scott Occhiogrosso, and David and Julie Scher.
Last year, the event raised more than $650,000 and was attended by more than 700 people, and Partner Stephen Murphy estimates that attendance and revenue grow by 10 to 20 percent every year, with no end in sight.
The event includes raffles and live and silent auctions of sports tickets, golf outings, gift certificates to high-end restaurants, vacations to Europe and much more. It is also catered by multiple restaurants and receives donations of wine from about 14 wineries.
Everybody involved in this event is honored to be able to play a small part in making it such a success. We must remember, however, that the tragedy of childhood disease is one that too many families have to live with year-round. For this reason, it’s critical to remember that while this is an important event and a mainstay on many people’s social calendar, the cause of St. Jude’s is one that we should never forget, and always look to support when we have the means to do so.
With that in mind, we are very excited to raise our glasses in support of eradicating childhood life-threatening diseases, and we look forward to seeing all of you there.
If you are looking to support St. Jude’s mission but are unable to attend this event, we highly encourage you to visit their website and learn how you can get involved, and donate if you can afford it.