Godwin's Charitable Contributions Committee recently presented its first donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The mission of St. Jude is to "advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. No child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family's ability to pay."

St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center to be designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute. St. Jude developed protocols that have helped push overall survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent, when the hospital opened in 1962, to 80 percent today.

Godwin president, Michel Bakhos, says, "Godwin’s management and employees are very happy to be able to contribute to the welfare of children. We are proud of the engagement and excitement of our employees to participate in the welfare of the society and contribute generously."

The objective of Godwin’s Charitable Contributions Committee is to encourage charitable giving and employee participation in a way that reaches a diverse group of relevant charitable organizations. Annual giving will be divided among efforts that include education, emergency and disaster relief, environmental, medical, arts and humanities, and support to armed forces families. The company also will begin a program for matching gifts based on employees' contributions to specific charitable organizations, and continue initiatives from previous years, like Operation Santa Claus.