St. Jude breakfast slated
33rd annual fundraising event is dedicated to Joe Hyder
WOONSOCKET – Joseph G. Hyder, the founder of a local fundraising breakfast benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, died on Jan. 14 of this year but his loss won’t stop his well-trained volunteer committee from continuing his work for children with life-threatening illness.
The 33rd annual edition of Hyder’s popular fundraising breakfast for St. Jude Children’s Hospital will be held at Club Par-X at 36 Stanley St. from 8 a.m. until noon on Sunday, Sept. 16.
Romeo Berthiaume, the past chair of the breakfast under Hyder, has taken on the duty of heading the overall local St. Jude fund raising committee with co-chair Kim Blais, and said on Friday that everything is already in place to make this year’s breakfast another great fundraiser for St. Jude’s children.
“This year the breakfast is being held in Joe’s memory and because it is dedicated to him we hope to get a big turnout,” Berthiaume, a retired Woonsocket High School Social Studies department head and local WOON radio personality, said of the breakfast committee’s goal.
Hyder had begun the breakfasts 33 years ago as an offshoot of radio and television fundraisers he took on for the late Danny Thomas, the founder of St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, back in 1962.
Children with catastrophic illness are never turned away from St. Jude’s and also face no cost for their care.
The breakfasts eventually became the biggest fundraiser for the local St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital fundraising committee with a little additional help from special efforts put on by groups such as the students at the Good Shepherd Catholic Regional School.
Since he started his radio and television fundraising and the breakfasts, Berthiaume estimates Hyder raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital during that time.
The breakfasts alone typically raise $7,000 to $8,000 through the generosity of local benefactors and last year, Berthiaume said a total of $10,000, a hefty contribution from the breakfast and some additional funds held by the committee were given for 2017.
Hyder’s wife, Frances, died in 2008 but his son, Joseph G. Hyder, Jr. ,and daughter, Roseanne F. Jess- ings, will be attending this year’s breakfast, Berthiaume said.
The set-up on Sept. 16 will be the same as in past years. The members of Club Par-X are once again donating all the food for the breakfast and also cooking it and serving it with the help of committee volunteers.
There will be parking at Woonsocket High School for the breakfast during its run from 8 a.m. until noon and a bus from Valley Transportation will provide shuttle service to Club Par-X on Stanley where parking is limited.
Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Children under 5 are free. Tickets will again be available at eight local sites, the WOON and WNRI radio stations, Piette Jewelers, Bileau’s Flowers, Pepin Lumber, Vose True Value Hardware, Club Lafayette and Club Par-X.
The 13-member committee’s work on the breakfast starts in January and it members not only handle securing donations for fundraising items to be raffled off or bid on the day of the breakfast but also sponsorships for the fundraiser’s souvenir booklet.
Patrons can also mail checks made out to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to the committee’s post office box in Woonsocket, P.O. Box 1962, Berthiaume said.
Once again this year, the breakfast’s fundraising will include a 5050 raffle, and a raffle of a grand prize gift basket valued at $300, a second prize of $200 in gift cards, and third prize of a $100 money tree.
The silent auction for sports memorabilia and other items will also be back, Berthiaume said.
Paul Jacob will be providing the sound equipment for the day, he added.
The Good Shepherd Catholic Regional fundraising begins with the start of school each year and goes on through December, Berthiaume noted. “Last year they raised $1,500 and boy are these kids generous,” he said. In addition to Berthiaume and Blais, committee members include Ron and Rachel Thifault, Bob and Nancy Phillips, John Powell, Michele Bocchini, Tina Go, Sandrina Baldelli, Christine Driscoll, Noel Pincince and Cathy Gagnon.