JD Burch for St. Jude 2025: Marching for St. Jude
Wow, it’s the fourth year? Just like the last three Septembers, I’m embarking on another journey to raise as much money as possible for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital during the month of September (Childhood Cancer Awareness Month). St. Jude’s noble cause is simple: to not stop until no child dies of cancer. Not only do they treat children suffering with cancer, but they also do critical research. St. Jude then shares ALL research findings across the world, for free, to doctors everywhere.
The team at St. Jude understands the hardships that come with childhood cancer beyond just the physical symptoms. Patients miss school and social activity, and families struggle to work out transportation while still juggling their careers. This is why St. Jude strives to minimize the impact of a diagnosis as much as possible. Their facility provides housing, food, and recreational activities to patients and their families. Unfortunately, the cost of cancer treatment is enormous, and can be impossible for many families to cover on their own. That’s why St. Jude NEVER sends a bill. Their lifesaving work is free of charge, and is supported by philanthropic donations from people like you and me.
I cannot stress this enough. Not only does St. Jude save lives, they do not charge for it. How incredible is that?!
I am honored and humbled to have the backing of you all in my efforts to raise funds. I strongly encourage you to make a donation, even if it’s only $1, $5, or $10. Every dollar helps. Additionally, please check with your employer about St. Jude’s employer matching program! Many employers (like mine!) will march all or part of your donation, and it can even be credited towards this campaign! Be sure to find the blue ‘employer search’ button when you check out!
If you need just a little bit more of an incentive to donate, keep reading! This year, I have two types of incentives. Firstly, just like last year, I will have my roast incentives! Everyone knows college students are among the snarkiest of all people. For a $10 donation, I will use this skill (that I am EXTREMELY gifted in) to roast a purchase/item/vehicle/ANYTHING that you have. Be sure to leave a comment with the item you want me to roast, and please reach out to me on social media if there's additional information I should incorporate into my roast! These roasts are an absolutely sarcastic blast, and always a joy to share! It gets better, though! If you so please, I am also bringing back roasting myself! For a $25 donation, I’ll roast myself, my car, my fundraising campaign, anything you can think of! And believe me, I don’t spare myself any of the sarcasm!
That’s not all, though. This year, I joined the Michigan Marching Band (MMB) at the University of Michigan. Band has long been a passion of mine, and I’m ready to take the field this season! I am excited to share this with the world, all while also leveraging it to raise money for a wonderful cause. In addition to my roasts, I’m introducing the Marching for St. Jude incentive. This incentive is walk-a-thon-esque in nature. You can pledge to donate an amount of money of your choice for each hour I rehearse, individually practice, and perform. All month, I’ll be sharing pictures, videos, and other media all about my experience in the MMB. I’ll regularly update you with my progress and highlights throughout the month. If you pledge an amount, you can either spread the donations throughout the month as I update my hours, or in a lump sum at the end. As a bonus, the pledge-fulfilling donations can also be double dipped with the roasts, so feel free to maximize the rewards you can earn! There is a pledge form to fill out, please head here for that.