NORFOLK, Va. — This year marks Reed & Associates Marketing’s (R&A) tenth annual team fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital prior to this year’s virtual 5K Walk | Run. The team celebrates its highest fundraising year to date with $23,670 raised, beating its previous record of $22,304 in 2019.
Ten years ago, R&A’s President, Ashley Knepper, joined St. Jude in the fight against childhood cancer and has met many brave faces. Seeing the impact St. Jude has on its patients first hand is what drives Ashley and her team’s commitment to helping build bright futures for children affected by cancer. As the leading hospital in research and lifesaving treatment, St. Jude continues to advance cures and means of prevention for childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Thanks to their efforts, St. Jude has pushed the overall survival rate for childhood cancer from 20 percent when it first opened its doors to 80 percent today.
Ashley raised $14,320 this year and took the position as the top fundraiser in the area. She shares, “Over the past decade, I have been fortunate to meet many remarkable St. Jude patients and dedicated staff. The memories I have made with them and their stories live with me and continue to inspire me to fundraise and share the importance of this life-saving mission.”
Each year, R&A takes that same fighting spirit and unites their families, friends and the local community to raise money and make an impact for the children and families at St. Jude. With the additional challenges COVID-19 brought on their fundraising efforts, the team knew they would need to work even harder for the children of St. Jude. There is still a great need for support, and their long-standing commitment to St. Jude sparked the determination to surpass their fundraising goal.
For seven consecutive years, R&A has been the top fundraiser in Hampton Roads, demonstrating the team’s passion and support for the organization. This year, R&A raised $23,670 dollars, making R&A’s total donations 40% of the total market-wide dollars raised for the walk this year. Since 2011, the agency has fundraised more than $149,000 for St. Jude.
Kaitlin Burket, Regional Development Director – Virginia, ALSAC/St Jude, says, “We are extremely grateful for the continued support of Reed & Associate’s Marketing. At St. Jude, families don’t receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing or food because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. This is only possible because of amazing partners and champions like R&A and we congratulate their entire team for partnering with St. Jude in the fight to end childhood cancer.”
This year’s impressive grand total was made possible in part by the support of long-time donors and local real estate development organization, Lawson. For the fourth year in a row, their team came together to make a $2,000 corporate donation and $1,475 in employee donations, totaling $3,475 in donations for R&A’s fundraising campaign.
In an effort to maximize fundraising, the agency offers incentives to employees who reach their goal of $1,000 in donations, including paid days off and a dollar-for-dollar matching program. This year, three R&A team members, Alison Johnson, Heather Chilton and Kendal Koeing, reached their agency match point totals, raising a collective $8,470 of the total dollars raised by the team.
For more information about R&A’s give back initiatives, visit www.reedandassociatesmarketing.com/philanthropy.
Reed & Associates Marketing, Inc.
Reed & Associates Marketing (R&A), headquartered in Norfolk, Va., is a national performance-based marketing agency that specializes in media planning and buying, social media, branding and creative services. R&A was named a Corporate VOLUNTEER Excellence Award honoree by VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads in 2014. Since its incorporation in 2008, R&A has implemented strategic mixed media campaigns that consistently generate results for local and national clients. To learn more or get in touch, visit ReedandAssociatesMarketing.com.
