Revisiting ‘Christmas In July’

An Arm and a Leg

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Today we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes from the archive – a story about giving – and bringing you an update.

In 1980, a young father named Denny Buehler was battling leukemia and needed to travel from Cincinnati to Seattle for treatment. To raise the money, his friends and family threw a softball tournament.

Denny passed away a few months later. But his friends and family turned the softball tournament into a beloved tradition, and a chance to give back. For more than 40 years, they’d host the games and sell hot dogs to raise money for people in the area who needed help with medical expenses.

Then in 2019, the Denny Beuhler Memorial Fund found a way to make the money they’d fundraise go a hundred times farther. Literally.

Inspired by a segment on Last Week Tonight, they partnered with a group to buy up old medical debt – and erase it.

Now in 2024, that group – now known as Undue Medical Debt – has grown its influence and helped crush billions (!) in debt.

Here’s a transcript of this episode.

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