Right Now, Standby...

Let’s focus today’s post on the nuts and bolts of what’s going on with the Foundation RIGHT NOW.

The picture to the right is of the latest round of $500 financial assistance grants headed out in the mail today.  Five more families helped.  Five more unbearable situations made a tiny bit more bearable.  That brings the total number of families helped since CJSTUF’s inception to 95 (We’ll be hitting 100 soon enough)!  That doesn’t include the hundreds of people fed during the Lunch Bunch and other meals programs facilitated by the Foundation or the emergency financial assistance provided in the form of utility bills paid, gas cards purchased, etc...

There’s only one way these things happen and that’s through your generosity.  Roger and Rachel Reynolds, The Board ofDirectors, and all involved with CJ’s Thumbs Up Foundation would like to thank everyone who have helped make this year more successful that we could have possibly imagined.  And it’s not over yet.

Our most recent fundraisers, The Amazing Raise and the Groupon Grassroots Campaign, have raised over $4,000 ($2,300+ of that guaranteeing at least 7 Lunch Bunch meals which will feed no less than 420 people).

The next thing is the Eagle Rare Award contest that continues into January.  People can vote once every 24 hours.

Now, the 500lb gorilla in the room is the Fall Art Auction on Friday, October 19 at the Cultural Art Center in Glen Allen.  There will be a dessert bar including chocolate fountain (YUM!), wine donated by The Caboose in Ashland, live and silent auctions with a variety of pieces ranging in value from $20 to $1,800, and (here’s the really cool part) three interactive artists who will be creating pieces during the evening.  Those pieces will be auctioned off at the end of the evening.

Tickets are $50 each and can be purchased here.

The future holds the kind of promise that can only come from seeing the exit of a very dark tunnel after being trapped inside for an extremely long time.

There will be wonderful Businesses Of The Month in November and December.  Please standby for details.

Initial plans are underway for a benefit bluegrass festival on Saturday, July 20, 2013 and a 1,000-mile bicycle ride in 2014; no official date as of today. (Mr. Roger needs a good road bike)

And yet, there are still other plans that are too early in the works to mention here.

For RIGHT NOW, please buy your tickets to the Fall Art Auction, vote for Rachel every 24 hours, and start getting your holiday shopping lists together to fill at our Nov. and Dec. Businesses Of The Month.

All you can do for the future events is standby…

The Week Of Chaos!

As Childhood Cancer Awareness Month continues, we are having another typical week in the life of CJSTUF.org!  Lot's of stuff going on.

1) Groupon Grassroots:  Recently, we were awarded a Groupon Grassroots Campaign during which $10 donations are taken to help fund one Lunch Bunch meal for the families being treated up on the 7th floor of Children's Hospital of Richmond  (This is our meal program for which we have teamed up with Connor's Heroes Foundation). The campaign is live through Sept. 23rd and is taking $10 donations right now. The "tipping point" is $300. It's difficult to imagine that we wouldn't reach that amount but if somehow we don't, then the funds raised up to that point are not distributed and no one's credit card will be charged. If nothing else, we get exposure and experience.

If  the tipping point is reached, which it will, then the Lunch Bunch is guaranteed one more event.  We hope we end up with several.

2) The Amazing Raise: This is an exciting, 36-hour fundraising event being hosted by The Community Foundation/GiveRichmond.org.  It begins Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 6:00AM (we'll post the link as soon as we possibly can after it goes live at 6:00:01AM) and ends the next day at 6:00PM.  There are MANY creative ways to win matching funds and CJSTUF will be aiming for three specifically.

The first is the 50/50 Early Bird Match.  The first 15 organizations (and there are dozens) that receive 50 unique donations of $50 will receive $2,500 matching grants from the Community Foundation (That's FIVE families helped).  So please plan to wake up early and help us capitalize on this opportunity.

The second is called "Midnight Madness."  Simply put, the donation (of at least $25) that comes in closest to midnight on Wed night will receive an extra $1,000 (2 families).  We will be having a wildly fun karaoke party at ComedySportz in Richmond starting at 10:00PM and when midnight approaches, we will countdown to zero and get everyone to push the "send" buttons as close to 12:00 as possible.  YOU are invited.  Come stay up late on a school night.  You know you've always wanted to!

The third focal area is the "Lunch Break" on Thursday 12:00PM-2:00PM.  The organization that receives the most unique donations of $25 or more within that time frame will win $1,000 (2 more families helped).  We will be lunching at Pepicelli's Pizza in Ashland during that time and any donations that come in throughout the Lunch Break will be applied to the Lunch Bunch.  (Pepi's, by the way, just happens to be CJSTUF's Business Of The Month for September; another great reason to come in!)

There is a fourth area that we think we could win and that's the Long Distance Donor Award.  The donation that comes in from the farthest point on the planet (determined by billing address of the card used) will earn the non-profit $1,000 (2 MORE families)  The Network is pretty widespread and if the right people donate (all you in Europe,  New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Africa, China, Korea, etc... know who you are!), we could win that one as well.

Last year was our first experience with the Amazing Raise and with very little effort, you helped us raise just over $1,000 (2 families).  This year, if we win only one of the contests at which we're aiming, we'll more than double that.

3 and 4) Rachel still continues to hold her own in the two voting-based contests.  The Eagle Rare Life contest has her at 4732 at this writing and we have no way of knowing how well she's doing in the Lady Godiva Program.  Just keep voting every 24 hours and we'll let you know something when we do.

5) The "Every Day Is A Bonus" Fall Art Auction is coming up on Friday October 19th.  We've already started receiving reservations and artist donations, some of which are pretty amazing.  There will be live and silent auctions featuring paintings, photographs, children's art, stained glass art, arts services and an interactive experience where live artists will be creating pieces right there in front of everyone. And don't forget the chocolate dessert bar! If you'd like to reserve your place, click here.

6) Did we mention that Pepicelli's Pizza is the Business Of The Month for September?  We won't have a BOTM for October due to the Art Auction.  We'll let you know about Nov. and Dec. as we get closer.  This post is long enough already!

We'll rest in January.