April arrived bringing some sunshine, the prestigious 120th Boston Marathon, and our annual Flatbread Restaurant fundraising event. For the past several years my cousin, Jeff Morgan, has been running in the Boston Marathon for Team FARA. The staff at FARA helps Jeff set up a fundraising page, sends him a team FARA jersey, and he's literally off and running. This year he was able to raise over $1,000 and much more FA awareness.
The following night I hosted a benefit at Flatbread Pizza in Bedford,MA; a portion of their pizza sales that night were donated to FARA. This was the 6th year having the benefit with Flatbread. In those short years I have become friends with the manager and staff members who also now participate in my annual charity golf tournament, the Fuzzy Buzzy, every September. I always look forward to this night and this year was no exception.
The night was filled with my large, supportive family, old friends and new having dinner while raising money for FARA. The first pair of entertainers were "Jay n Joe". Joe is the cousin of good friend Nick Carbone. Nick also has FA and played his guitar for us (Nick is running for MA State Senate! nickcarbone.org). They were fabulous and the crowed loved them. My uncle Neil Porter and his band "Grand Theft Audio" wrapped up the night with their classic hits. Neil is a great supporter of FARA and always plays at our events. As always, they were wonderful.
I have a great friend, Tom, who works for the Wachusett Brewing Company. Every year he donates a keg of beer to this event with 100% of these sales going to FARA, greatly increasing our total. Beer $900, pizza $400; $1300 for FARA by listening to music, drinking beer and eating pizza. It didn't take much arm twisting to get a crowd.
We had such a great night and raising money makes me feel proud that I am helping FARA reach our shared goal of putting an end to Friedreich's Ataxia.