Despite his busy schedule with the upcoming Olympic Games, Shaun White recently teamed up with Target to help children and their families at the St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. The Target House, a facility sponsored by the retail chain and created as a home-away-from-home for families of children undergoing treatment at St. Jude’s, celebrated it’s 10th anniversary in September and in honor of the occassion White worked together to brother Jesse to create the Shaun White Great Room. Here’s what Target had to say:
“Over the past ten years, Target House has become such a vital part of the St. Jude community, that it’s hard to remember what the hospital was like without it,” says Marlo Thomas, National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “More than just a warm and beautiful housing facility, it is a safe haven for the Moms and Dads and children of St. Jude–a place of family and community, a place of shared journeys of pain and celebration that is as much a part of the healing process as the medical treatment itself. Target House is a blessing to all of us.”
Target House has served as a temporary home-away-from-home to more than 1,300 families from around the world. The facility has provided apartments free-of-charge to families of children whose treatments require that they be in Memphis for more than 90 days with some families staying as long as three years. This commitment is part of the St. Jude promise to cover all patient treatment costs, including expenses not covered by insurance.
Professional snowboarder and Olympic gold medalist, Shaun White, wants Target House residents to have a new place where they can come together, escape from their daily lives and have a little fun. With the help of his brother, Jesse, the two designed a Native American, ‘70s rock & roll-inspired room, with hip, edgy, custom-made animal furniture, including a snowboard lion table, black bunny end tables, and a 5- foot black pig side table (life-size replica). To ensure residents have the most up-to-date technology, Shaun included a two-sided flat screen television in the middle of the room and an electronics corner, featuring a Wii and other gaming systems where kids can play Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip, among other games. Other designs elements include a clear, acrylic foosball table and a 2? person chair so that kids can sit together watching television, playing games or just enjoying each others’ company.”