I've been a player in the NFFC for the last 5 years and an occasional NFBC player and have enjoyed the fierce but friendly competition. I've made so many friends in Vegas at the drafts and over the boards that my wife thinks I'm a total weirdo! But that's for another day.
I'm Ry's Guys on the message board but in Vegas I'm Pat Sorge Bears Fan from Chicago! I'm reaching out to you through Greg (thanks Greg!) to tell you about a charity that is very near and dear to my heart.For the last four years my son Ryan and I have shaved our heads and raised money on our heads for St. Baldrick's Foundation. This year we've decided to step it up a bit.
My family and I are hosting a St. Baldrick's event on Friday May 3rd in Schaumburg,IL at the Schaumburg Boomers Stadium. The event is aptly named "Take me out to the Baldgame". We thought we would have a little event that might raise 15-20K and have a little fun putting it together. Our community has embraced our cause and we have 81 people shaving their heads and have already raised over $20,000 and we're still 10 days away from the event! It has been an amazing four months of planning (sound familiar? that's about how long I usually study for the NFFC) with all of the support we have received. Unfortunately, childhood cancer is still affecting children and their families so we are going to push on and try to raise 40-50K as our goal now!
A little bit of info about St. Baldrick's. St. Baldrick's Foundation raises money and awareness into curing all types of childhood cancers by having volunteers host events where people get together to shave their heads and raise money that is turned into grants for research. The foundation is a volunteer driven organization, which means they try to put every dollar they raise towards the cause. 82% of money raised through St. Baldrick's goes directly towards grants for research. Most charities strive to keep the "expenses" at about 35%. St. Baldrick's is at a very efficient 18%!
I know percentages are what fantasy players are all about so I'll throw a couple more at you!
All types of childhood cancer combined receive only 4% of U.S. federal funding for cancer research. The average age of a child diagnosed with cancer is 6 years old. Every 3 minutes a child is diagnosed with cancer.
Ok enough statistics!
So what can you do about it?
If this moves you to help out, there are many different ways to help you don't even have to lose your hair if you choose not to!
1. You could chose to join our event by registering at
http://www.stbaldricks.org/events/Baldgame to shave your head at the event. You would raise money by getting donations on your bald head.
2. If you are not local (Chicago area) but would like to donate you could use that same link to put a donation through on line.
3. We are also holding raffles and a silent auction to raise funds at the event, so if you or your business would like to donate something (and get a tax break!) you could do that too!
4. If you are local but don't want to shave your head you could come out to the (FREE) event and buy a couple of raffle tickets or bid on an item in our silent auction that would look good in your Man(or woman) cave. You could buy a wristband for your kids to go through the large kids area that will have games, prizes, clowns, face painting and a balloon artist. Soak in the local entertainment as you have a beer from the concession stands, remember its a ballpark!
So that's it. I hope I could convince the good people of the NFFC or NFBC to help a fellow fantasy guy out with a good cause.
Thank you for reading this and good luck in baseball (if your playing) and see you in Vegas in September!
Sincerely,
Pat Sorge a.k.a. Ry's Guys
Volunteer Event Organizer
"Take me out to the Baldgame"
email [email protected]
847.414.5394
