Fund Raising
On April 27th we concluded our first fund raiser for 2008 - a 2 month effort with proceeds going to Autism Speaks, the nations most recognized organization for Autism Awareness. On the 27th, after weeks of selling raffle tickets and collecting donations, we had a fun filled “kids day” party in celebration of Johnny, his many teachers and therapists, and all the hard work they have done together the past couple of years. We were amazed at the end of the day to find we had raised over $20,000! Not bad for first timers!!

We then organized 2 more events for 2008.  Both with proceeds going to the Doug Flutie Jr Foundation for Autism.  On July 23rd we held a Movie Night at Cinema World in Lincoln, R.I. It was a screening of "the Dark Knight" with 100% of ticket sales donated. We also hosted a silent auction featuring original art donated by some of our favorite comic book creators, as well as a few choice autographed pieces of sports memorabilia. The even raised just under $1,500, which we were happy with considering the low cost of tickets.

Our third, and final event for 2008 was a Comedy Night held on August 8th. The evening was hosted by Fitzy and featured 5 other comics. We auctioned and raffled off over 50 pieces of sports memorabilia that night and raised over $3,400. The night was loaded with laughs and will definitely be an annual event!

Our total fund raising for 2008 came in at over $25,000. Which we are very proud and thankful for. Especially considering our lack of experience and the large amount of support we received from friends and family this year! 

the Cause
At the beginning of this whole fund raising endeavor, Sarah and I had high aspirations of starting our own non-profit organization. One thing we have learned since then is to determine what your mission is, and to ensure that there is not already a group doing the same thing. After researching the Flutie Foundation, we learned that their mission was in complete harmony with ours, giving a large amount of focus (and funds) to supporting local families and school programs dealing with children on the Autism spectrum. This being the case, we intend to go forward with these third party fund raisers as "Fiscal Supporters" of the Flutie Foundation!

Help
We are very excited about 2009. In addition to have another Family Day party, and hosting another Comedy Night, we are also getting the wheels moving on other ideas including a Golf Tournament!! Of course, we have found this be a LOT of work. Especially while still working a real job and raising two great kids! We are fortunate to have included help from generous friends and coworkers who play a large role in coming up with fund raising ideas and then following through!

We were able to have successful events in 2008 without any celebrity or commercial sponsorship. Of course, we realize we could have more than doubled our success if we did!! In 2009 we will be looking for more help in those departments, so if you or anyone you know can help out - please let us know! We are gladly accept helping hands in our on-going efforts.

And to any local athletes (current and retired) - we have derived a large amount of our funds by auctioning off signed memorabilia. If you would like to donate and item, donate some of your time to sign items we already have, or (even better) actually show up at one of our events - we can't express how grateful we would be! While we have never been fortunate to have an appearance, some of the generous athletes who helped us out by signing items specifically for our events in 2008 were Vince Wilfork (who actually invited me to his home!), Curt Schilling (who supported us through the mail), Rick Middleton, Terry O'Reilly & Bob Sweeney (who we were fortunate enough to meet and speak with at another fund raiser) and of course Doug Flutie! And I can't forget to mention one of the nicest gentlemen we met this summer, former Red Sox 3rd baseman Frank Malzone. What a great guy he is! Other folks who helped were Gary Tanguay, Tim Wakefield, Mike Timlin & Lyndon Byers (well, LB tried...we still appreciate that)

If you would like to join the ranks of our generous contributors, please use the info on the "contact" page to get in touch!