NEW YORK, July 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — New York personal injury law firm Block O’Toole & Murphy is honored to share that the firm raised over $1,375,000 at its annual New York City Wine Tasting event, benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This is the largest sum the firm has raised in the event’s history, and all proceeds will help pay for the care and treatment of children at St. Jude.
For the past two decades, the firm has galvanized the legal community every year to support St. Jude’s incredible mission of eradicating childhood cancer and ensuring that no children go without the medical care they deserve. Held on June 12, this year’s event welcomed over 600 attendees to The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan.
“St. Jude has a goal to completely get rid of pediatric cancer. But to do that, we need everyone in this room’s commitment and help,” said firm managing partner and chair of the event, Stephen J. Murphy, in his opening speech. “Our singular purpose here is to raise as much money as possible for this incredible cause.”
Murphy led the event, supported by firm partners and fellow committee members Jeffrey Block, Daniel O’Toole, and David Scher. All have been instrumental in organizing the event and helping to make this year an even greater success than the last. Nearly 100 different groups and individuals sponsored the event – the most ever in the event’s twenty-year history. Thanks to their generosity, the firm reached a remarkable milestone: The event raised over $1,000,000 for St. Jude before it even began.
“Last year, we exceeded a million dollars at the end of the night,” said Murphy. “Before we started tonight, we had already bested what we did last year.”
The night’s program featured speeches, delicious food, a live and silent auction, and, of course, an array of wines and specialty cocktails for guests to enjoy. Guests danced along to live music from The Om-en, a band led by John Sparling, partner at the defense firm Cullen and Dykman.
The event also welcomed the parents of one St. Jude patient, who shared the incredible story of their experiences with the hospital as their newborn daughter was treated for – and ultimately cured of – a brain tumor that all other hospitals had deemed a death sentence.
Their story is just one representation of St. Jude’s unending dedication to patients and their families. When St. Jude opened its doors more than 60 years ago, the estimated survival rate for children diagnosed with cancer was a mere 20 percent. Since then, through St. Jude’s pioneering research and willingness to share its developments worldwide, the survival rate of pediatric cancer has risen to more than 80 percent.
Though these numbers are powerful, Murphy acknowledged that they don’t fully reflect the totality of St. Jude’s impact.
“I think that the magic and the spirit of St. Jude is not about statistics,” he said. “What St. Jude does is they take the burdens away from a family. A family whose child is being treated at St. Jude doesn’t have to worry about paying for travel, or food, or housing, or any of the treatment or testing involved with taking care of their kid.”
Thanks to everyone’s generosity, St. Jude can continue its admirable work. Block O’Toole & Murphy is proud to have cultivated a community that shows up, year after year, to continue supporting that cause.
“We started doing this, being involved in this cause, 20 years ago,” said Murphy. “There are some people who were here for the first year and have come every year since. This night is important, but it’s also fun, and it’s meaningful, because of the folks in this room.”
About Block O’Toole & Murphy:
Block O’Toole & Murphy is a top personal injury law firm serving victims who have been hurt because of another party’s negligence. The firm has recovered over $2 billion in verdicts and settlements for clients hurt in car crashes, construction accidents, and other personal injury cases. For a free consultation, call 212-736-5300 or visit https://www.blockotoole.com/
SOURCE Block O’Toole & Murphy
