Who’s REALLY the Church Lady?
Yesterday Cliff and I attended a fund raiser for a 14-year-old girl who needs liver, bowel, stomach and pancreas transplants.
We found out about Brittni from Liz and Fred, two motorcycle-riding, middle-aged Floridians who painted our kitchen. Liz belongs to the Chrome Divas, a group of cycle-riding women, and told us that they were going to have a fund raiser for Brittni, whose single mother will probably lose her job when they have to move to Pittsburgh for the transplant. Well, as Benders are wont to do, I started asking questions and found out that the fund raiser’s goal was to help pay the $10,000 plus cost of Brittni’s flight to Pittsburgh when a donor becomes available. “No way should she have to pay for her transportation to Pittsburgh,” said I, knowing of organizations who fly transplant candidates for free. I made several phone calls and gave the resulting contacts and information to Liz.
A day or two later, there was an article in the paper about Brittni’s situation. A few days later, another article, on the front page no less, about a company in Fort Myers that had not only volunteered its private jet, but had also lined up several back-up jets, all of whom were willing to give Brittni a free ride to Pittsburgh when the call comes.
We went to the fundraiser, held at the “Back Streets Sports Bar” yesterday afternoon. In that tiny little room were a whole bunch of bikers and me and Cliff! They had sold Brittni bracelets at the Fort Myers’ cycle run the night before, raised money from a poker run, and were in the middle of an auction when we arrived. People were bidding like crazy and the money was flowing as freely as the beer. Liz came running over to greet us and said, “My God, Debra, it looks like we’re going to raise at least $25,000! It has been just amazing!”
It was Sunday, the day that all bench-warmers hold dear. We were in a crazy dark biker bar with a bunch of big-hearted people who were putting their money where their mouths are. Who’s REALLY the church lady?
We found out about Brittni from Liz and Fred, two motorcycle-riding, middle-aged Floridians who painted our kitchen. Liz belongs to the Chrome Divas, a group of cycle-riding women, and told us that they were going to have a fund raiser for Brittni, whose single mother will probably lose her job when they have to move to Pittsburgh for the transplant. Well, as Benders are wont to do, I started asking questions and found out that the fund raiser’s goal was to help pay the $10,000 plus cost of Brittni’s flight to Pittsburgh when a donor becomes available. “No way should she have to pay for her transportation to Pittsburgh,” said I, knowing of organizations who fly transplant candidates for free. I made several phone calls and gave the resulting contacts and information to Liz.
A day or two later, there was an article in the paper about Brittni’s situation. A few days later, another article, on the front page no less, about a company in Fort Myers that had not only volunteered its private jet, but had also lined up several back-up jets, all of whom were willing to give Brittni a free ride to Pittsburgh when the call comes.
We went to the fundraiser, held at the “Back Streets Sports Bar” yesterday afternoon. In that tiny little room were a whole bunch of bikers and me and Cliff! They had sold Brittni bracelets at the Fort Myers’ cycle run the night before, raised money from a poker run, and were in the middle of an auction when we arrived. People were bidding like crazy and the money was flowing as freely as the beer. Liz came running over to greet us and said, “My God, Debra, it looks like we’re going to raise at least $25,000! It has been just amazing!”
It was Sunday, the day that all bench-warmers hold dear. We were in a crazy dark biker bar with a bunch of big-hearted people who were putting their money where their mouths are. Who’s REALLY the church lady?
posted by Debra Hope @ 6:06 PM
1 Comments:
At 9:59 AM,
Lori Stewart Weidert said…
Aww, heartwarming. My father was a Harley rider; he LOVED the comaraderie at those fund raisers and rides.
Hope Brittni fares well.
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