Final pics of the Beardoff
And a video of the beard from start to finish.
I’ve had about a week to soak in the efforts we put forward in our first fundraising adventure. When we started on November 25th, we really had no idea what would happen. Being the ever-aggressive person that I am, I suggested we attempt to raise $20,000. What the hell I thought, if everyone raises $2K we’ll meet our goal in a heartbeat. I can now say that it’s not that simple, especially when you’re starting from scratch. We were flying out of the gate with $2500 in the first couple weeks. I started imagining us surpassing our goal and blowing this whole thing up. Then the holidays came and everything came to sudden halt. However, over the final six weeks, the boys in beard made a significant push to reach our goal. We held four events at the Heavy Seas Brewery, Chasseur, Mad River Grille and finally at Pratt Street Ale House. Everybody involved stepped up their game by reaching out to business and organizations for silent auction items and donations. We were able to give away some really cool items along the way. A huge thanks has to go out to the business above as well as the overwhelming support we received from other businesses, restaurants, and organizations that donated auction items during the fundraiser.
But one of the coolest things we did, along with raising money, was raise awareness. The Ulman Cancer Fund supports, plain and simple. They provide financial assistance, moral support and simply make life easier for those with cancer as well as their families. What we were able to do is spread the word to our friends, families and anyone who came to our events, read this blog or happened to find us on Facebook. And that’s the real power of a fundraiser. Sure, the money helps, but by spreading awareness, the money can continue to grow. From awareness, more people can get the support they need when cancer invades their lives.
So that’s why we are already looking forward to next year. Some things may change and some things will stay the same, but one this is for sure; we’ll be growing our beards to raise money and awareness for The Ulman Cancer Fund. Our hope is that more people grow their beards during the 2nd Annual Beard Off so we can continue to raise awareness and top that $20,000 goal we had for year one.
Thank you to everyone who contributed financially, came to one of our events or had the opportunity to be a part of what we did. We are grateful to The Ulman Cancer Fund for letting us be a part of their wonderful organization and look forward to doing it again next year. We were able to meet over 75% of our goal which means the Ulman Fund can support cancer patients in the following ways.
- $25 will pay for transporting a patient to a doctor’s appointment
- $50 will pay to keep a patient’s lights and power on during treatment
- $75 will pay for three hours of our Navigator’s time working with patients and families
- $100 will pay for our patient navigators to facilitate a monthly support group
- $200 will pay to help preserve a young adult’s fertility prior to starting treatment
- $500 will pay for our Navigator to meet and work with five new patients and their families
- $1,000 will pay for gas cards to help 40 patients get to treatment
- $1,500 will pay to distribute guidebooks to 428 newly diagnosed cancer patients
- $2,500 will pay for a scholarship to send a young adult facing cancer to college
- $5,000 will pay to feed and support 90 college students as they ride their bikes cross-country with 4K for Cancer
- $10,000 will help us start another Patient Navigation program at a cancer center
If you’d like to donate, the website will be open year round.
If you’d like to get involved with The Ulman Cancer Fund, click here.
If you’d like to get involved in the Beard Off, shoot me a message!
