Newswise — St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has been named the recipient of the 2010 Omar N. Bradley Spirit of Independence Award, presented by the Independence Bowl Foundation.
The Independence Bowl Foundation consists of volunteer committees of more than 400 members who carry out all functions of the Foundation, including organizing the Independence Bowl each year.
The Omar N. Bradley Spirit of Independence Award began in 1978. It is given to an American organization or citizen that symbolizes the spirit of freedom and independence on which the United States was founded.
“It is gratifying to receive this external recognition from the Independence Bowl Foundation, acknowledgement of the unwavering commitment of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to our mission of finding cures and saving children,” said Dr. William E. Evans, St. Jude director and CEO. “Receiving the Omar N. Bradley Spirit of Independence Award caps off a landmark year for St. Jude.”
St. Jude founder, the late entertainer Danny Thomas, received the seventh annual Spirit of Independence Award in 1983.
Along with Thomas, previous recipients of the award include Bob Hope (1979), former President Ronald Reagan (1981), the Boy Scouts of America (1990), Sandra Day O’Connor (1993), the YMCA (1994), the American Red Cross (1995) and the National Football Foundation (2009).
The award will be presented Monday, December 27, during halftime of the 2010 AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The bowl, which hosts an average of 40,000 to 50,000 fans each year, will be broadcast nationally at 4 p.m. CST on ESPN2.
St. Jude Children’s Research HospitalSt. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering research and treatment of children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Ranked the No. 1 pediatric cancer hospital by Parents magazine and the No. 1 children’s cancer hospital by U.S. News & World Report, St. Jude is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and from around the world, serving as a trusted resource for physicians and researchers. St. Jude has developed research protocols that helped push overall survival rates for childhood cancer from less than 20 percent when the hospital opened to almost 80 percent today. St. Jude is the national coordinating center for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium and the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. In addition to pediatric cancer research, St. Jude is also a leader in sickle cell disease research and is a globally prominent research center for influenza.
Founded in 1962 by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world, publishing more research articles than any other pediatric cancer research center in the United States. St. Jude treats more than 5,700 patients each year and is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. St. Jude is financially supported by thousands of individual donors, organizations and corporations without which the hospital’s work would not be possible. In 2010, St. Jude was ranked the most trusted charity in the nation in a public survey conducted by Harris Interactive, a highly respected international polling and research firm. For more information, go to www.stjude.org.
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