2010 SoSH Jimmy Fundraiser Options

[Trautwein's ...]

Greetings, SoSHers!

We have volunteered to co-chair the 2009 SoSH Jimmy Fundraiser. If our math is right, from the time this annual tradition started in 2003, SoSHers have donated an impressive $270,000 for the Jimmy Fund. That's amazing! Last year SoSH raised nearly $20,000; now our goal is more ambitious. We are seeking to raise over $50,000 this year. Currently we're trying to organize the drive and contacting the usual suspects for donations, time and publicity. We're trying to set dates and tinker with the rules - all to help raise money to help doctors find a cure for cancer.

We're starting by asking for non-cash donations from you. The success of prior drives is in large part attributable to the members of this community who have stepped forward by donating tickets, autographs, pictures and other personal goods.

Given our goal, this year, your donations of prizes are especially important. We're going to use them to encourage people to donate early and often.

Please PM either of us if you have an item that you're willing to donate for the fundraiser. Thank you.

We're working on putting things together. They'll be more details to follow. For now, we're asking you to consider donating a prize.

-Rip and Traut

This post has been edited by Smiling Joe Hesketh: Jan 29 2010, 02:41 PM

[Cumberland Blues]

bumpitybumpbumpbump

Nobody was reading this when it was pinned.

[Trautwein's ...]

A few things. The 2009 Jimmy Fundraiser will kick off February 1, 2010 and end February 5th. Rip and I wanted to get this right. Holding us in 2009 would have resulted in the fundraiser being thrown together by both us and the Jimmy Fund and that's not something we wanted to do. Thanks to everyone who has offered to donate a prize. I still have some PMs that I haven't responded to - I will get to you. More donations are welcome. We're excited about some of the planned changes to the fundraiser.

[The Allented Mr ...]

Just a reminder that this will be starting in a little less than three weeks. Either Traut or I will provide some updates as that date draws closer, but one important thing to bear in mind is that for a variety of reasons, SoSH will not be conducting an ALS auction this year. This Jimmy Fund drive will be the board's only major charitable event for 2010, so please take that into account when considering whether to make a donation or not (or how much that donation will be).

If anyone has any questions, feel free to contact either of us. It goes without saying that we're still happily accepting any donations of prizes to be given out as part of the fundraising efforts, so if you've got something of value that you think would help increase the amount taken in, let us know. Thanks, and let's raise a lot of money for a great cause.

This post has been edited by The Allented Mr Ripley: Jan 12 2010, 11:41 AM

[Orange Julia]

Why not ALS auction this year? Because we're doing a Jimmy fund one? or another reason?

[Trautwein's ...]

We're excited for this year's Jimmy Fund Drive.

This year the drive is 5 days. People felt that it last too long in the past with most of the donations coming in at the last minute anyway. This year our drive will be kicked off by a post from a Jimmy Fund patient. We're going to have daily prizes donated by the Jimmy Fund that will be drawn each day. Some pretty good stuff. Anyone who donates $25 or more on a day will be eligible to be entered in that day's raffle. We're also going to do an auction of some really cool stuff. It will be much smaller than the ALS auction (3 to 5 items) but some very cool stuff.

[Frisbetarian]

Why not ALS auction this year? Because we're doing a Jimmy fund one? or another reason?

There are many reasons that an ALS auction is not practical this year, OJ. This is not the place to discuss them, however.

I really hope you will all support the Jimmy Fund event this year.

[Trautwein's ...]

Thread title changed to 2010 Jimmy Fundraiser.

Thanks to everyone who has offered to donate something. At this time, I think we have enough items to use for both daily prizes and to auction.

This is not going to be like the ALS auction in terms of size. We're going to have some decent prizes that will be drawn daily and then 3 to 5 items to auction off.

The crown jewel of things being auctioned off is a ball signed by the 1952 Brooklyn Dodgers. I'll post a more complete description and a picture as we get closer to the auction. To give you an idea of how awesome of an item that is, here is a link to the 1952 Dodgers Roster. The ball comes from the Jimmy Fund and includes Jackie Robinson's signature.

[The Allented Mr ...]

Just a heads-up, we're going to be posting the items up for auction as part of this fundraiser today. Bidding won't start until Monday morning, but we wanted to give everyone a chance to see what's out there and plan accordingly. There are 7 items total, and bidding will close on all of them on Friday afternoon/evening (February 5th).

Basically it'll be the same format as previous charitable auctions we've held.

In addition to the auction items, on Monday we'll post a straight cash donation game thread with an online portal provided by The Jimmy Fund, just like we've always had. We've gotten a lot of great member-provided prizes to be raffled off to those who donate in this manner.

Please consider contributing to a great cause. SoSH has always been outstanding when it comes to charitable endeavors, and we know that tradition is going to continue over the next week. Thank you.

This post has been edited by The Allented Mr Ripley: Jan 31 2010, 04:32 PM

[CoRP]

I was wondering about who Jimmy was and found this on the Jimmy Fund's website...

Who was Jimmy?
The boy who launched the Jimmy Fund


A young "Jimmy" in the uniform the Boston Braves gave to him.

From his first radio broadcast that launched the Jimmy Fund in the late 1940s to his countless recent appearances at Jimmy Fund events, Einar Gustafson—the Jimmy Fund's original "Jimmy"—was an inspiration to hundreds of thousands of people throughout New England.

Jimmy's story began in 1948, when Gustafson was a 12-year-old patient of Dr. Sidney Farber, founder of the Children's Cancer Research Foundation (eventually renamed Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) and a pioneer of modern chemotherapy.

Dubbed "Jimmy" to protect his privacy, Gustafson was selected to speak on Ralph Edwards' national radio program, "Truth or Consequences," which was broadcast from the boy's hospital room. The appeal, aired across the nation on May 22, 1948, generated more than $200,000 in one year to support Dr. Farber's research—and the Jimmy Fund was born.

Following his brush with celebrity and the remission of his cancer, Gustafson returned to his family's farm in northern Maine and later lived for many years in Massachusetts, the home of the Jimmy Fund. Despite clues over the years to Jimmy's fate and identity, everyone at Dana-Farber assumed that the youngster had died, because cure rates for pediatric cancers were so low during the era in which he was treated. While never intentionally concealing his role as "Jimmy," Gustafson remained anonymous until 1998, the 50th anniversary of the original radio broadcast.

After his "welcome back" to Dana-Farber, Gustafson went from public anonymity to near celebrity. His story was featured in People Magazine and Sports Illustrated, and in newspapers nationwide. In 1999, his home state of Maine held a Recognition Day for him and he was named honorary chairman of the Jimmy Fund.


"Jimmy" and a friend at the 1999 Boston Marathon® Jimmy Fund Walk.

Gustafson's many efforts on behalf of the Jimmy Fund since his re-emergence included recording public service announcements for radio and television, visiting patients at Dana-Farber, and appearing at Jimmy Fund events such as the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, the Boston Marathon® Jimmy Fund Walk, and numerous golf tournaments. He also spread the Jimmy Fund's message of hope across the country by driving a trailer truck with the charity's logo and slogan—"Because it takes more than courage to beat cancer"—emblazoned on it.

Sadly, Gustafson died of a stroke at age 65 on Jan. 21, 2001. But his memory continues to provide hope to adults and children with cancer, and inspiration to thousands of Jimmy Fund supporters.

"Einar's story—that he was cured at a time when so few were and that he led such a full life—is an inspiration to all of us," says Edward J. Benz Jr., M.D., president of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. "His story is the story of our nation's war on cancer, and over the past five decades, tens of thousands of people have rallied against cancer in his name. We certainly pledge to continue that fight."

Please join SoSH in honoring Jimmy's legacy in the fight against cancer by making a generous gift to the Jimmy Fund. Help continue the progress.

[Dgilpin]

Just a heads-up, we're going to be posting the items up for auction as part of this fundraiser today. Bidding won't start until Monday morning, but we wanted to give everyone a chance to see what's out there and plan accordingly. There are 7 items total, and bidding will close on all of them on Friday afternoon/evening (February 5th).

Basically it'll be the same format as previous charitable auctions we've held.

In addition to the auction items, on Monday we'll post a straight cash donation game thread with an online portal provided by The Jimmy Fund, just like we've always had. We've gotten a lot of great member-provided prizes to be raffled off to those who donate in this manner.

Please consider contributing to a great cause. SoSH has always been outstanding when it comes to charitable endeavors, and we know that tradition is going to continue over the next week. Thank you.

Do we have the link to make donations yet?

[The Allented Mr ...]

I just put the thread up, link here.

[The Allented Mr ...]

Cross-posted from the donations thread:

I just spoke with our Jimmy Fund rep and she let me know that our total donated so far is $5,319 (that's from the straight cash donations, it doesn't including any of the bidding on the auction items). That's terrific for the first 24 hours of the fundraiser, but let's surpass that today.

Donors who contributed yesterday are entered for a drawing of a signed Casey Kelly ball, the winner of which will be announced this morning.

Anyone donating today will be entered to win a signed Ryan Westmoreland ball, so keep that in mind and keep the contributions coming!

[Dgilpin]

Did you guys ever annouce the raffle winner from yesterday?

[The Allented Mr ...]

I know the winners are being directly contacted from Amy at the Jimmy Fund, but I'll see if I can get the names so we can announce them here.

In the meantime, SoSH raised $5,661 yesterday to bring the two-day total to $10,980. When you factor in the current bids for auction items (a dollar figure that will hopefully increase), the total raised so far is $20,580.

We're $10,000 away from cracking $300,000 total donated to the Jimmy Fund from SoSH since these fundraisers began in 2003. Let's keep the contributions and auction bids coming, we'd all like to see that total amount figure get to $310,000 or even $325,000!

[The Allented Mr ...]

Amy let me know who the raffle winners are so far this week:

Casey Kelly autographed ball - Mike Lohmaier
Ryan Westmoreland autographed ball - Jay Hreczuck
Manny Delcarmen autographed ball - Pamela Nance

Amy's sent each of you an email to discuss arrangements to receive your prize, but in case you were using an address you don't frequently check, you can contact her directly at Amy_Powers@dfci.harvard.edu. Congrats to the winners so far, and there are more raffle prizes for those who donate today and tomorrow. Please consider making a contribution, and thanks to all of those who already have.

We had a slow day yesterday, taking in $100 in donations. Let's rebound from that, it would be great to reach the $30K total that would bring us to over $300K donated lifetime. We're $10K away.

This post has been edited by The Allented Mr Ripley: Feb 4 2010, 11:36 AM

[Kevin Mortons Gh...]

When is the cutoff to make donations? Sometime today?

[The Allented Mr ...]

I think we'll keep the link open through the weekend to try and maximize the amount taken in, but if you can donate today, by all means do so.

Amy from the Jimmy Fund let us know that the total taken in yesterday was $875, and that we're already up to $785 so far today. Let's have a big push to get us closer to that magical $30K mark, currently the donated total stands at $12,740. With the current auction bids at $10,425, the grand total is at $23,165.

Yesterday's raffle winner, Jared Bishop, received a Josh Reddick signed baseball.

Donate what you can, submit higher bids on auction items (there are some newer items up, check them out), let's try to bring in $7,000 before the drive is over. It's a reachable goal if enough people participate.

[Lose Remerswaal]

If this doesn't make you give, nothing will

[The Allented Mr ...]

...or this one:





This post has been edited by The Allented Mr Ripley: Feb 5 2010, 11:08 AM