We’re Thinking of You, Cousin Vinnie

We've met a lot of extraordinary people over the past 18 years during our Cat Country Cares for St. Jude Kids Radiothons.

One of those extraordinary people is Cousin Vinnie -- a man who worked tirelessly to raise money any way he could (literally) for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

I only ever saw him once a year during our radiothons. We usually didn't know when he was going to show up... you would just turn around and there he was with checks and big piles of money, usually to the tune of eight or nine thousand dollars or more. He would talk on the air with us -- usually apologizing that he couldn't raise more money -- and then just disappear. The running joke among us was that with a name like 'Vinnie' and being that he was in New Jersey, we didn't want to know how he was able to raise so much money. But when I say he worked tirelessly, that's not a big enough word to describe what he did for the kids of St. Jude.

Cousin Vinnie passed away in the summer of 2014. And while he is no longer with us, we will always remember and be grateful for everything that he did for the kids of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.