By Jake Fogal

BLOOMINGTON – Community members joined together over the weekend to run for a good cause. St. Jude Runs annual charity event raised over $10 million dollars in their 54 mile trek from Bloomington-Normal to Peoria.

Local St. Jude board member James Ingold realizes that it’s difficult to donate with raised inflation on the back of everyone’s mind.

He says cancer has not taken a break, and that we cannot either. That’s what he shared with his potential donors.

“Everyone is paying so much for groceries and gas, they are not going to have extra money to give to the telethon. Basically, my thought process was I may complain and gripe at the gas pump looking and seeing it’s five dollars, but compare that to a family who just walked into the hospital for the first time after hearing their son or daughter has cancer. My five dollar gallon gripe pales in comparison,” Ingold said.

The final count raised for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital over the weekend was $10,450,256, but where exactly does that money go?

“All this money will end up in St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital where they will provide research, patient care, keeping them lodged and fed, and taking care of these children so no patients family ever pays a dime,” Ingold said.

Since its 1982 inception, St. Jude Runs has raised over $76 million to further the mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

If interested in donating to St. Jude, visit stjude.org/donate/donate-to-st-jude.html.

Jake Fogal can be reached at [email protected].