The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of our lives, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the commitment our employees and customers have shown to help St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® in its mission to treat the toughest childhood cancers and pediatric diseases.
This year, we raised more than $22.4 million in stores and online during the holiday season, making Best Buy the largest corporate donor ever for the annual St. Jude Thanks and Giving® campaign. That’s on the heels of a record-breaking campaign last year, when we collected more than $22.5 million in donations — the most money brought in by a single partner in a given year.
“In a year unlike any other, our employees and customers came together to make a lasting change that will impact the lives of countless children and families,” said Ray Sliva, Best Buy’s president of retail. “We are incredibly proud of our partnership with St. Jude, and the donation gathered this year serves as a reminder that great things happen when we come together as a community, even when times are tough.”
We’re proud to be the largest corporate partner in the history of the St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign. With the help of our employees and customers, we have collected more than $125 million in donations since 2013 and made a big impact in the process.
Working together to end childhood cancer
Since Best Buy began participating in the campaign, our stores and their communities have embraced the St. Jude mission. Over the last eight years, they have been instrumental in helping the organization in its efforts to make sure families never receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing or food, making it possible for them to only worry about being there for their child.
“It was a shopping season unlike anything we’ve seen before, yet Best Buy continued to make fundraising for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital a priority, raising a record $22.4 million. While keeping purpose at its core, Best Buy continued to lead in the retail space by innovating and adapting to the quickly evolving retail landscape and engaging its customers for impact,” said Richard C. Shadyac Jr., President and CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude. “We are so grateful for Best Buy’s continued commitment to St. Jude families worldwide and making so much critical, lifesaving work possible.”
Despite the pandemic, we had employees and customers alike rally across the country — even going above and beyond our corporate efforts.
For Lynda Tysver, a contract worker for Best Buy in Minnesota, that meant turning her Norwegian family’s baking tradition into a holiday fundraiser. Lynda, who is mentoring her nieces and nephews to be St. Jude Heroes like her, worked with them and her family to sell more than 1,000 pieces of lefse, a traditional soft Norwegian flatbread.
“Making lefse has been a nice way to combine my heritage and culture with my passion of over 27 years, supporting the kids at St. Jude,” Lynda said. “Even in a pandemic, cancer never stops. It doesn’t care about age, gender or ethnicity, and St. Jude relies on us because they operate solely on donations.”
Click here to learn more about St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.