St. Jude's Children's Hospital Turns Film into Funds

In keeping with annual tradition, Malco Theaters presents "Wrapped with Love" for the continued research of childhood diseases at Memphis’ own St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

This program, in its 10th year, kicks off Thanksgiving Day Nov. 22, and runs through Christmas Eve Dec. 24, at all 33 Malco Theater locations in Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Mississippi. Theater employees will sell the bows for $1 each, and the bows are hand-made from actual film.

Twenty-four frames make the bow, about one second of a movie. The sound for each movie is encoded on the edge of the film and appears green. It’s believed these bows may eventually be collectors’ items if the film industry progresses into digital technology.

As the materials and volunteer production hours for the bows are donated, there is no cost to Malco Theaters or to promotional partners Onsite Printing, Tennant Printing and Hankinson Design; the true beneficiary is St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

In a joint effort for this cause, patients of St. Jude and their families participated in the creation of the bows at the hospital. During the activity, reels of movie trailers were cut, stapled and sealed with a special sticker that reads “Wrapped With Love ... To Benefit the Kids of St. Jude.”

Since 1999, Malco Theaters raised over $275,000 for St. Jude. Over 65,000 bows were sold during the 2006 "Wrapped with Love" campaign and this year’s goal is to commemorate the 10^th anniversary of the fundraiser by selling 100,000 bows during the four-week campaign.

Malco Theaters is headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., and is fourth-generation family-owned and operated. Malco operates over 300 screens at 33 locations in five states across the mid-south.

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