‘A spotlight on this great city’: Action News 5′s Joe Birch sits down with CEO Rick Shadyac on the St. Jude marathon, its impact, and changing the narrative of the city

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital runs a Marathon of Mercy for kids fighting cancer or other catastrophic diseases every day.

On Saturday—20,000 people will run a full or half marathon to help the hospital persevere in its life-saving mission.

Rick Shadyac, ALSAC CEO, caught up with Action News 5′s Joe Birch and spoke highly of the event, citing it as ”[the] single largest fundraising event of the year.”

“God willing, Joe will raise over $15 million,” Shadyac shared, optimistic that the event will be a fundraising success, “We’ll have runners here from over 50 states and many foreign countries. It’s got an economic impact on the city of over $43 million per year.”

Hopeful that the event will once again shine a light of positivity on the city, Shadyac added, “It’s an opportunity for us to put the spotlight on this great city, Memphis, Tennessee, to show people what this community is really all about. Not some of the headlines they sometimes see in newspapers or read on social media and things like that. They’ll see a compassionate, caring community that will come out in droves to support the mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and have a lot of fun at the very same time.”

Shadyac is also challenging his team to keep growing the St. Jude Memphis Marathon so that the event will be around for many years to come.

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