Growing Tree Preschool recently held the 8th annual St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Trike-A-Thon event at Growing Tree Preschool on Seal Beach Boulevard.
The St. Jude Trike-A-Thon is a week-long fundraising program that teaches kids riding-toy safety. As they learn the rules of the road, students gather donations to support the work of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The week culminates in a Trike-A-Thon event on the playground where the students compete to ride as many laps as possible.
To date, students and families of Growing Tree have raised nearly $20,000 over the last eight years (averaging $2,000 – $2,500 a year in donations).
For details about Growing Tree’s farewell open house, see the story on page 17.
This year, the 6-year-old record of 96 laps held by Sophia Papageorges of Seal Beach was finally broken by Jacob Yu of Seal Beach, setting a new record of 98. St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital was founded by legendary entertainer Danny Thomas in 1962 fulfilling a promise he made as a youngster while praying to St Jude Thaddeus, patron saint of the hopeless. “Show me the way in life, and I will build you a shrine.” Danny Thomas wished to build a haven for the helpless, a facility where research would shine a light into the darkness.
A place of compassion that would treat children regardless of race, color, creed or their family’s ability to pay. For more than half a century, St Jude’s has been finding cures and saving children using research that has helped push the survival rate for childhood cancer from less than 20 percent in 1962 to more than 80 percent today. For information, visit .
