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Michael's Birthday 2004
Help us celebrate Michael Vartan's birthday by giving a gift in his name to St. Jude Children's Research
Hospital, one of the world's foremost centers for the research and treatment of cancer and other
diseases that affect children.
We wanted to do something extra-special for Michael's birthday this
year to show him how much we love and support him, and we decided that
contributing in his name to a charity he supports would be a great way
to do that. When he competed on Celebrity Poker Showdown recently, he
played for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which is a facility dedicated to finding cures
for cancer and other catastrophic childhood illnesses. Founded in 1962 by entertainer Danny Thomas and located in Memphis, Tennessee,
St. Jude has been instrumental in researching new treatments for diseases that strike children. It is the largest
center for childhood cancer research in the world, and it shares its findings with doctors and
hospitals worldwide. Since its founding, the hospital has contributed to bringing overall cure rates for
childhood cancer from less than 20 percent to around 70 percent.
Donations to St. Jude contribute to ongoing research and to the treatment of children
whose families' lives have been turned upside-down by the onset of critical
illness. Children who come from far away and have long rounds of treatment are
accompanied by parents who sometimes have to give up their jobs and leave the rest of
the family at home to be with their children during treatment. The emotional,
physical, and financial hardships are enormous. That's why one of the most remarkable things
about St. Jude is that no child is ever turned away because
of inability to pay--the children who are treated at St. Jude come from all over
the world, and the hospital pays all costs not covered by insurance. If the family has no
insurance, they do not pay for treatment at all.
St. Jude Honor Gift Program
By participating in St. Jude's Honor Gift program, you can donate to St. Jude and have a card
sent to Michael's ABC address to let him know you've made a gift in his name. You have the option
of printing the card and mailing it yourself, or having St. Jude send it directly.
When sending the honor notification card yourself or specifying an address for St. Jude to do so,
use this address:
Michael Vartan, c/o "Alias"
The Disney Studios
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521
If you would like to send a second notification card to Michael's management, who are aware of our project, here's that address:
Michael Vartan
c/o Stephen Hanks Management
252 N. Larchmont Blvd. Suite 201
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Click here for the cards you can print yourself.
Your donation is tax-deductible: save your receipt or your canceled check.
For more information on donations, click here. If you'd
like to know more about St. Jude, you can find a ton of information
at their website.
Here are the different ways to donate:
Donating by credit card online
Click this link
to be taken to St. Jude's secure server, and then
click on the blue "Honor" tab. Fill out your information and select either the
"Print My Own" or "By Mail" option for delivery of the honor card. Now click
"Confirm Donation." You will be able to specify that your gift is in Michael's name after
you complete this step.
Donating by check or credit card through the mail
If you are not donating online, print the Honor Program donation form and
fill it out with your information. If you want St. Jude to mail the card, fill in the
section, "Please provide us with the gift card information" with "In Honor of Michael Vartan."
Then fill in the "I would like a card without the gift amount mailed to:" section with the ABC address.
Make your check out to "St. Jude Children's Research Hospital" and mail it along with the donation
form to:
Memorial and Honor Program
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
501 St. Jude Place
Memphis, TN 38105
If you're donating by credit card via mail, simply provide the information requested at the
top of the donation form.
Note for international donors: personal checks and international money orders
are accepted!
Donating by credit card over the phone
Call 1-800-873-6983, Monday - Friday, from 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Central time.
Donating by fax
Print the donation form and fax information to 901-578-2805.
Matching Donation Program
Some companies have a matching donation program when their employees donate to charity, where you can report your donation and they will send the same amount to the charity. So you might want to look into whether your company has such a program and will match funds to St. Jude. Especially those of you in the Memphis/Mid-South area, if you work for basically any corporation in the vicinity, you'll see St. Jude on the company match list.
Outside the United States?
If you live outside the United States and don't have a credit card, you can still contribute. St. Jude accepts personal checks and international money orders, which you can get at most banks. Print out the Honor Program donation form and mail it to St. Jude at the above address.
Tracking donations
We'd like to be able to get a ballpark figure for how much has been donated so that we
can announce the total on Michael's birthday, November 27. The best way we
can think of to do it is by using the form below. When you donate, please fill
in your e-mail address, Vartan Ho number if you have one, and the amount donated
in the orange boxes below, and we will receive an e-mail with the information.
We are only asking for an e-mail address to make sure we're not getting duplicate
submissions; this info will not be made public in any way!
We'll add all the numbers up and announce the total on Michael's birthday.
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Can't donate?
If you can't or don't wish to make a donation, but would like to send Michael a card for his birthday, Michael's manager, Stephen Hanks, has offered to forward to Michael the birthday cards sent to his office. That includes the honor cards sent by St. Jude. The address there is:
Michael Vartan
c/o Stephen Hanks Management
252 N. Larchmont Blvd. Suite 201
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Thank you for helping us celebrate Michael's birthday by contributing to the
fight against cancer!
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