Award-Winning St. Jude ‘Taste of Oxford’ Set for Thursday

By Alyssa Schnugg
News Editor
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com

Last year’s St. Jude Taste of Oxford event raised more than $400,000. Young James Rayner celebrated the successful completion of his treatment for leukemia with a “No Mo Chemo Party.” Photo provided by Liz Randall.

Organizers for the St. Jude Taste of Oxford event are hoping to raise more than $450,000 on Thursday to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

In its 12th year, the St. Jude Taste of Oxford is a food tasting and cocktail party with traditionally more than 1,200 guests. The event raised $414,000 in 2018 and has raised more than $1.5 million since its inception.

Earlier this year, the event received the Best St. Jude Mission Experience Award for last year’s event which placed Taste of Oxford among the top 25 fundraisers across the United States for dinners and galas.

“For a small town in Mississippi to raise over $400,000, it is a testament to the tremendous generosity of our community and those who travel to support the event,” said Event Chair Liz Randall. “Our supporters can be confident that their money is going to support St Jude.  I have huge respect for each of our committee member—they are creative, self-motivated and have a relentless focus on our fundraising goal.”

Peter Costa, CNBC market commentator and former NYSE governor will be the guest host.

Music will be provided by The Spazmatics.

The event will be held from 7 to 11 p.m. Thursday at The Jefferson. Tickets are $150 and all proceeds go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Some of the items up for grabs this year will be a party at Proud Larry’s with entertainment by Jimbo Mathis; dinner for 75 people the night before an Ole Miss 2019 football game catered by Elizabeth Heiskell Catering and Deloris Franklin; a guided fly fishing trip for two people at the The Unalakleet River Lodge – a remote luxury fishing lodge in the northwestern bush of Alaska; and dinner for 50 people catered by famed Chef Kelly English at Swayze Field.

“While the event is very fun and social with the guest experience being paramount to our committee, we feel it is very important to keep the event centered around St Jude’s vitally important work of curing catastrophic childhood illnesses,” Randall said. “St Jude is currently and actively supporting Oxford families with very sick children, and the Oxford/Ole Miss community is reciprocating that support in a huge way.”

Actor Danny Thomas officially opened St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on Feb. 4, 1962. Since then, the hospital’s groundbreaking research has helped push the survival rate for childhood cancer from less than 20 percent in 1962 to more than 80 percent today, according to its website.

Consistent with Thomas’ vision, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family’s ability to pay.

For more information or to order tickets, follow this link.