After more than 30 years, Math-A-Thon is America's largest education-based fundraiser. Math-A-Thon is a supplemental math education program for grades K-8 that also serves as a fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital®. Each year thousands of schools participate in Math-A-Thon, helping to raise millions of dollars for the patients of St. Jude.

Since its inception, St. Jude has developed protocols that have helped bring overall survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent when the hospital opened in 1962 to more than 80 percent today. Your participation in the Math-A-Thon program helps make it possible for St. Jude to treat patients regardless of a family's inability to pay.

Quick facts about St. Jude:

• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, maintains 78 inpatient beds and treats upwards of 260 patients each day.
• On average, 5,900 patients visit the hospital each year, most of whom are treated on an outpatient basis.
• St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center to be designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute.
• In 1962, the survival rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of childhood cancer, was 4 percent. Today, the survival rate for this once deadly disease is 94 percent thanks to research and treatment protocols developed at St. Jude.
• St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and from around the world.
• The daily operating cost for St. Jude is $1.8 million, which is primarily covered by public contributions.

St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. No child is denied treatment because of a family's inability to pay.

To learn more about St. Jude, visit www.stjude.org.