Most everyone has heard of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.  But unless you’ve actually visited the facility or had a child treated there, it’s almost impossible to fully realize how massive the Complex is, or the marvelous work done there for the patients.  On a visit a few years ago, I was in awe of the physical size of St. Jude Hospital and Research Center.  But beyond that, I was humbled by the amazing work done there by doctors and brilliant scientists who are always researching ways to improve the lives of children who are very very sick.  The most disappointing fact I learned was that, even though St. Jude operates solely on donations and never charges the patients families for anything, the vendors from whom St. Jude purchases medical equipment, such as a gigantic electron microscope, do not donate the equipment or even provide discounts.  St. Jude has to pay the full price for life saving research equipment.  In the case of the electron microscope which filled an entire room, the cost was one million dollars.  Matter of fact, at the time of my visit to St. Jude, their daily operating cost was one million dollars per day.  Today it is 1.9 million dollars a day. But the most heartwarming sight during my tour were the faces of the children who were being treated at St. Jude.  They were all aglow even though many were in the battle for their life, most with some form of cancer that was sure to take their precious lives if they didn’t get the medical treatment St. Jude was giving…and the operative word being ‘giving”.   Not only was St. Jude giving the much needed treatment to the children, but they put up the families in comfortable living quarters while staying in Memphis with their children.   This Saturday, a full day of activities are planned for the Community Complex in Crossville featuring all day live entertainment from many local musicians who have donated their time and talent to the Musician’s for St. Jude Fund Raiser Event.  In addition, there will be all kinds of activities for the kids to join in and of course plenty of food and more.  I plan on being there to help in anyway I can because St. Jude is a very very worthwhile cause.  The event starts at 10am and goes till 6pm and I am asking all our CNF readers to spread the word and come out to join in the fun..but mostly help St. Jude continue their amazing life-saving work for the children who otherwise would not receive treatment.  All donations received during the Event will be directly given to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  No, we won’t be able to raise even close to one day’s operating cost, but we can certainly help offset some of it along with the thousands of other events across the Nation and other contributions from private and corporate contributors.  We hope to see you Saturday at the Cumberland County Community Complex.   Danny Thomas had a vision once and made that vision come true with a wonderful complex that saves children’s lives and helps improve the quality of life for those who cannot be saved – St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.