Update April 21, 2020: The St. Jude Hall of Heroes experience is now available in Oculus TV on Oculus Quest.

We’ve only just started to explore VR’s creative potential, from storytelling and community building to driving positive social change in the world. Today on Giving Tuesday, we’re partnering with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, BBDO, and Flight School to debut an inspiring VR experience in honor of St. Jude and the families they support.

Inspired by the bravery and resilience of children battling cancer, the St. Jude Hall of Heroes experience introduces viewers to St. Jude patients stylized as superhero statues. Viewers hear directly from patients and their families, celebrating their stories and spreading awareness of childhood cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

Everyone can watch a 360° trailer of the experience on Facebook and in VR starting today, and St. Jude Hall of Heroes will be on display in select Best Buy locations beginning this Friday. The experience will also be coming to the Oculus platform early next year.

Created by BBDO and developed by Flight School, St. Jude Hall of Heroes is intended to help St. Jude raise awareness and donations during the annual St. Jude Thanks and Giving® campaign—and it’s just one of the many ways the hospital uses VR to bring viewers inside its walls. St. Jude also leverages the immersive power of VR to share its No More Chemo parties, where doctors, nurses, and staff send patients home from their final chemotherapy treatment with balloons, confetti, and a singalong. It’s a moment caregivers cherish and that could previously only be experienced by those in the room. Now, VR breaks down those barriers to let donors and supporters join the celebration from afar.

“The rapid acceleration of VR technology allows for the exciting reimagination of the way we tell stories, connect with communities, raise funds, and drive fundamental change,” says Richard Shadyac Jr., President and CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. “For the past 50 years, the modernization of science and research technologies have enabled St. Jude to fund and advance cures for pediatric life-threatening diseases. St. Jude Hall of Heroes is inspired by that spirit of leading-edge change and puts the focus on the real heroes among us, our brave St. Jude patients.”

You can learn more about St. Jude Hall of Heroes and make a donation at stjudehallofheroes.org.