Brad Paisley Receives Angels Among Us Award For Ongoing Support of St. Jude

Brad Paisley has another award to add to his extensive collection, but this one has to do with his heart, and not his music. The West Virginia native was presented with the 2018 Randy Owen Angels Among Us Award, while performing at the recent Country Cares for St. Jude in Memphis, in honor of his numerous charitable contributions for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Paisley was in Memphis to perform at the annual event, alongside Country Cares founder, Alabama’s Owen, who began Country Cares for St. Jude in 1989, and to date has raised more than $750 million through the program.

“This is the kind of place that changes you. It refocuses what’s important in life, immediately, the moment you walk through the doors. And it’s all because of him,” Paisley said from stage, pointing to Owen, “that all of us, in this line of work, have anything to do with this place.”

Paisley has hosted and participated in several St. Jude events, including designing a room, with his wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley, at the nearby Target House (which houses families of children undergoing treatment at St. Jude), headlining or performing several charitable concerts for St. Jude, and spending time with St. Jude patients as much as his schedule allows.

St. Jude Children’s Hospital treats children battling cancer and other diseases of the blood, completely free of charge. In addition to providing medical care, St. Jude also takes care of housing and transportation, and various other expenses for the child and family. Due to their extensive research, the overall survival rate for childhood cancer has gone from 20 percent, when the hospital opened in 1962, to over 80 percent today.

More than 60 artists, including Kelsea Ballerini, Brett Eldredge, Luke Bryan and Maren Morris, have participated in St. Jude’s recent This Shirt Saves Lives Campaign, encouraging donations of as little as $20 a month, through their Partners in Hope campaign.

Other artists who have been honored with the Angels Among Us Award include John Rich and Darius Rucker. To make a donation to St. Jude, visit their website.

Photo Credit: Instagram/BradPaisley