3north’s Danny MacNelly to Host Wiffle Ball Tournament to Benefit Full Circle Grief Center
Danny MacNelly recently sent this note to his fellow 3north staff members and we thought we’d share it here:
Dear work people,
Time is approaching for the second annual Jake MacNelly Classic, which means that it’s time for me to start hassling you all with emails and calls to give money for a good cause. That cause is, of course, making my team win the fundraising competition, but, as a bonus, you’ll also be helping Full Circle Grief Center and, by extension, all the people that they help.
Many of you were hassled for this last year and some of you participated (thank you so much), but I’ll still explain what we’re doing here in case you forgot, didn’t hear about it last year or deleted the email before reading it last year (making it improbable that you wouldn’t do the same this year, but maybe you’re getting soft). Basically, we’ve assembled 4 teams of Richmond’s finest wiffleball players to battle it out on the fundraising trail on behalf of Full Circle, and then on the wiffleball pitch on behalf of my brother, Jake.
To give you some background on the charity, my good friends Stephen and Allyson Drake have founded a wonderful non-profit organization a few years ago called Full Circle Grief Center (visit their website for more information: http://www.fullcirclegriefcenter.org/). In short, they are a free, year-round center providing children with creative ways to express their grief and remember their loved one. There are so many kids out there that don’t have a good way to understand or express this grief, mostly because they can’t afford the individual therapy that is really the only other way that help is available to them. I encourage any of you that are interested to contact Stephen and Allyson for more information.
And I suspect that most of you didn’t know my brother Jake, the namesake of this event – his tragic passing in 1996 gives me some understanding of the importance of Full Circle. I was lucky to be a little older and have a wonderful support group, but know that many aren’t so lucky. Jake was a generous and gregarious person who loved helping kids and making up complicated sports ventures in our backyard. Because of this, we thought he’d be the perfect ambassador for this event.
Think of this like a walk-a-thon, where we’re asking you to sponsor our team for the competition. But instead of walking, we’re playing wiffleball. And instead of a-thon, it’s a tournament. The games will be played between the teams listed on the website (we’re the Blue team) on October 23rd, starting at 2pm. This will all be taking place in my mother’s backyard (305 Old Oak rd) and the championship game will likely be played sometime around 5pm for those that just want to see the big game. The festivities will continue into the night and anyone is welcome to attend as much of it as they would like.
Last year, thanks to all of you, my team won the fundraising competition (we placed 2nd in the wiffleball game thanks to a last inning rally by Wallace’s team) and helped raise a total of $20,000 for Full Circle. To give you a sense of what we were able to accomplish with the funds raised last year, this money was specifically used to:
• Provide 80 children with canvases and paints to create a painting about their loss.
• Provide 48 children with scrapbooking supplies to create a memory book
• Allow 28 inner-city children to attend a full 12 week Full Circle grief program
• Allow 24 children and their families to attend a full 8 week grief program, including dinners each sessionNow that I’ve buttered you up with a long-winded explanation, here’s the main site for the event (http://www.jakeclassic.com/) and how you can give:
THE EASY WAY:
(1) click on this link: http://www.jakeclassic.com/donate.html This will bring up the list of teams and team members.
(3) click the “DONATE” button under the “BLUE” team.
(4) enter a preposterously large number in the “donation amount” box and charge it to your credit card. That way you don’t even have to pay it!
IF YOU’RE SCARED OF THE INTERNET (hi Mom!):
(1) write a check made out to: “The Jake MacNelly Fund”. Make sure to put “Blue Team” in the memo line.
(2) mail it to:
The Jake MacNelly Fund
c/o Full Circle Grief Center
P.O. Box 29066
Richmond, VA 23242
And now that you’re done with that, please forward it on to anyone that you think might be interested in the cause or the event. Please email or call me with any questions that you have.
Thanks,
Danny MacNelly
3north
