The holidays are definitely the time to think about those that need help the most. I’ve been trying to do my part this season to help wherever I can. When you realize that it only takes baby steps to make a difference in another person’s life, it’s hard to NOT do something.

This season, Ruckus Media Group has partnered with St. Jude to donate 100% of the proceeds from your purchase of the Rabbit Ears Classic Storybook app ($1.39). That’s right… the cost of this amazing app is only $1.39 and all of it gets donated to St. Jude. It might not seem like much, but imagine all those apps adding up to make a huge difference.

We all know about St. Jude and how they will never turn away a child in need, but this is a way that YOU can help in such a simple way. If you haven’t tried out Ruckus Media storybook apps, you are missing something special. My daughter, Lauryn, loves these stories and will sit for hours with her Dad’s iPad and watch them over and over again. Consider downloading some for your kids and help out all those kids who will be spending the holidays in a hospital bed this year.

For more information, take a look at the Press Release. It says it all much better than I can.

PRESS RELEASE

(Wilton, CT) — Ruckus Media Group, the global children’s media company, announced today that it has partnered for the first time with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® for the annual Thanks and Giving campaign, a holiday program that asks shoppers to “Give thanks for the healthy kids in your life, and give to those who are not,” while shopping this holiday season.

Ruckus will donate to St. Jude 100% of the net proceeds ($1.39) of the company’s classic Read-Play-and-Record Along Rabbit Ears interactive storybooks from November 15 – December 31, 2011. Customers will be supporting the hospital’s lifesaving work of finding cures and saving children with deadly diseases with each app download of the following titles, all specially priced at $1.99 during the campaign:

• PECOS BILL, TOLD BY ROBIN WILLIAMS (Robin Williams is a long-time supporter of St. Jude)
• THE VELVETEEN RABBIT, TOLD BY MERYL STREEP
• NEW! THUMBELINA, TOLD BY KELLY MCGILLIS
• THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, TOLD BY MERYL STREEP
• JOHN HENRY, TOLD BY DENZEL WASHINGTON
• NEW! PAUL BUNYAN, TOLD BY JONATHAN WINTERS
• TOM THUMB, TOLD BY JOHN CLEESE
• GOLDILOCKS, TOLD BY MEG RYAN
• JOHNNY APPLESEED, TOLD BY GARRISON KEILLOR
• THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDER, TOLD BY JEREMY IRONS
• THE THREE LITTLE PIGS, TOLD BY HOLLY HUNTER

“By participating in our Thanks and Giving campaign, Ruckus Media Group joins an illustrious list of some of the most compassionate businesses and great brands in the country,” said Marlo Thomas, national outreach director for St. Jude. “The commitment of Ruckus Media and their customers to this campaign helps ensure that the children of St. Jude get the chance to enjoy many more holidays for years to come.”

The eighth annual St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign unites normal business competitors with one goal during the holiday season – to build awareness and raise funds to support the vital research and treatment being done at St. Jude.

“Saying ‘Yes!’ to the St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign was an immediate and easy decision, for Ruckus and our wonderful brand partners,” said Jim Young, Ruckus Media Group Co-Founder and COO. “We share a common goal - to better a child’s life. Children and families should enjoy Ruckus’s digital storybooks even more, knowing the proceeds will be going to help this great hospital and their mission. Thank you, St. Jude and thanks to all our fans for supporting this great cause.”

St. Jude is the nation’s leading pediatric research and treatment center devoted solely to children with cancer and other deadly diseases and the only hospital that covers all of the costs for treatment, travel, food and lodging for each patient and a family member.

Since it opened its doors nearly 50 years ago, St. Jude has developed protocols that have helped push survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent to 80 percent overall. In fact, the survival rate for the most common form of childhood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, has risen from just 4 percent in 1962 to 94 percent today.

To purchase Ruckus’ interactive storybooks for iOS mobile devices and help support this campaign during the holiday season, visit the Ruckus Media Group page at iTunes. To learn more about the St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign or to make a donation visit www.stjude.org or call 1-800-4STJUDE.

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About Ruckus Media Group:

Ruckus Media Group introduces traditional storytelling for today’s ways of telling stories by creating applications for mobile devices that entertain toddlers to teens from their fingers to their minds, at home or on the road—and invite their imaginations to grow. Launched in September 2010, Ruckus is now home to 17 children’s interactive storybooks, including the iTunes-bestselling MY LITTLE PONY: TWILIGHT SPARKLE, TEACHER FOR A DAY, based on the ever-popular Hasbro toy characters; Parents’ Choice and Mom’s Choice award winners SPOT THE DOT by pop-up legend David A. Carter and CHUCK & FRIENDS: FRIENDS FOR THE LONG HAUL; About.com Readers’ Choice Award Winner and Best App award finalist A PRESENT FOR MILO, written and illustrated by Mike Austin; as well as THE VELVETEEN RABBIT: TOLD BY MERYL STREEP and other Read-Play-and-Record-Along classic animated storybook apps. For a full listing of titles and additional information, see our website and the Ruckus Media Group iTunes page for free lite samples.

About St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital:

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering research and treatment of children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. The hospital’s research has helped push overall survival rates for childhood cancer from less than 20 percent when the institution opened to almost 80 percent today. It is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children, and no family ever pays St. Jude for care. For more information, go to www.stjude.org and follow St. Jude on www.facebook.com/stjude and www.twitter.com/stjude.