Danny Thomas and his vow

Danny Thomas Founder Statue, near main entrance, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis. Photo by jch.

Fundraising dinner for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, third of five narratives read between courses of the meal.

The entertainer Danny Thomas seems an unlikely person to be the founder of a hospital. Danny was born in 1912, in Deerfield Michigan, one of nine children to Lebanese immigrants who had little money, but a strong faith. As a young man, he was so moved by a sermon that he put $7 in the offering, leaving only 85 cents in his wallet. He writes, “Then reality hit me …. I prayed, “Lord, I’ve given my last seven bucks. I need it back tenfold because I’ve got a kid on the way, and have to pay the hospital bill.” The next day, Danny received an offer to make a commercial for Maytag Washers, and was paid $75 for the job. The hospital bill for the birth of his daughter Marlo was $74.80.

Later, while worshipping at a church in Detroit, he prayed to St. Jude, “Help me find my place in life. Give me just a small sign of what road I must take, and I’ll dedicate my life to perpetuating your name … and I will build you a shrine where the poor and helpless may come for comfort and aid.”  Soon thereafter, he became a hit in Chicago.

Danny never forgot his vow. He worked for years to develop the dream and cultivate resources among friends, family, colleagues, and leaders in church, political, business, and medical communities. Especially important was his association with the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC) which focused its efforts on Danny’s dream of a hospital for suffering children. In 1962, the dream became reality. At the formal opening, Danny Thomas said, “If I were to die this minute, I would know why I was born.”

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