Good evening, friends and family. I hope everyone is doing well and had a happy and safe holiday weekend. Just wanted to pass along a few updates for you all. There is a lot going on and we wanted to share!
· Congenital Heart Night at the Ballpark.
o This was a massive success, several thousand dollars raised for MOHF and a magical night across the board!
o For those of you who were not there, yes, I bounced the ball, but I did throw it hard. Microcosm of my college baseball career, I suppose. Some great pictures attached, including a picture of our family and Dr. Huddleston (Oakes’ lung transplant doctor) and his daughter.
o Just before I pitched, I was able to sprinkle a pinch of Oakesie’s ashes just behind the mound, so the Redbirds will have some extra mighty-ness when they need it most.
o Our dear friend, Heidi Drexler, put together a nice slideshow w/music at http://vimeo.com/66485024
· Save The Date for the blow-out Dinner-Auction “Heart Gala” on Saturday, November, 16, 2013 in the Starlight Room at the Chase Park Plaza. More details attached.
o Undoubtedly, another magical night is in store. Hundreds of people, amazing auction items, one of the best evening ballroom/balcony settings in St. Louis (a stone’s throw from Oakes’ CICU room) and lots of food, drinks and dancing, yes, dancing after dinner.
o We have not done this since November, 2011, so there is some pent-up energy in the air for this event….
· WE NEED YOUR VOTE!!
o Eagle Rare, the premium Kentucky Bourbon, recognizes one person each year who “leads a rare life.” Becky’s family nominated her and she is now in competition with dozens of other rare lifers for the opportunity to have $40,000 donated to the charity of their choice!
o That’s right, $40,000. The final 20 rare-lifers are determined strictly by Internet voting, so please go to this site, as often as you think about it, to vote for Becky!! http://www.eaglerarelife.com/content/becky-fox-ortyl
o 7 finalists will be selected by Eagle Rare from the top 20 vote-getters and then one of those 7 will be the Grand Prize Winner for 2014 and $40k will be donated to charity in that person’s name. Also, Eagle Rare throws a little shindig for that person, which would be a blast as well. Voting is through January, so let’s get her in the top 20 and let the story take us to the grand prize!
· Save The Date for the 2nd Annual 5K on Saturday, September 28, 2013.
o This was a great event last year and I may even run the thing this year!
· Save The Date for the Inaugural PEG Bandwidth Golf Tournament Benefitting Mighty Oakes Heart Foundation (for those who can get to Dallas, anyway) on Thursday, October 17, 2013.
o My company has been gracious enough to donate any net proceeds from our 1st ever golf tournament to MOHF! We will be playing a shot-gun tournament around Noon that day at a great golf course called The Tribute.
o Golf shirts, visors, raffle prizes, celebrities, food, drink – it’ll be a blast. More details to follow, but the net of this one is if you have any interest attending, email me otherwise you probably will not get a formal invite.
· Becky was on live television Sunday morning. Yep. Of course, she rocked it. It was very emotional when they started rolling the pictures and the video from when this TV station covered Oakes’ 1st Birthday, but some great memories. We actually had a family reach out to us already based on seeing the story on TV!
o Check it out: http://fox2now.com/2013/07/07/family-works-to-help-others-facing-tough-diagnosis/
o You can search “mighty oakes” from their home page to see last year’s story if you want.
· Since we started MOHF, we have raised over $200k and have helped, in some way, about 25 families. We have also coordinated many “treats” to the staff at the Heart Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and we have also donated many dozens of items to the Heart Center which will directly impact & improve the quality of the stay families and patients will have there.
· We have hired a firm to produce a video segment on MOHF – who we are, what we do, who we help. Should have that ready in the next couple of months. Can’t wait!
There are several more events this year including a pizza-wine dinner at Dewey’s and a team for the Rock n’ Roll marathon. The best way to keep in touch with us is through our Facebook page. I’d give it to you, but I’ve never been since I’m not on FB, but I’m probably the only one on this email distro, eh? FB, check us out!
Love,
Greg, Becky, Isla
www.mightyoakes.org
www.babyortyl.blogspot.com
