70 Year Old Cancer Survivor Bikes 12,000 Miles for Charity

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Bob Lee is preparing for a solo, 12, 000 mile bike ride down the West Coast of the U.S. in an effort to raise both money and awareness for cancer, ALS research and hospice care programs.

The 70-year old cancer survivor discussed his upcoming challenge:

“The most challenging leg of my ride is asking for donations. We are off to a great start with the generous sponsors and matching fund mechanisms already in place but we need to accelerate our ‘call-to-action’; we need friends to donate now before I saddle up.

I’m not a ‘biker’ and I am not fundraiser, I am more of a peddler with a passion to help conquer disease and support those living with life-threatening illnesses,” Lee said. “This is a purpose-driven ride. The people fighting cancer and ALS, the hospice nurses, and all of the people who are collaborating with me on these rides- they are the ones who give me pedal power.”

The West Coast ride is the third and final part of Lee’s solo charity bicycle ride, which covers the perimeter of the United States. He hopes to raise $1 million once he crosses the finish line over the Mexican border. All donations will support three charities: the American Cancer Society, the Les Turner ALS Foundation, and the National Hospice Foundation.

Warren Buffett Lunch Auction Brings In $3.46 Million for Glide Foundation

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Warren Buffett’s week-long charity lunch auction raised $3.46 million for the Glide Foundation of San Francisco this year. The online bidding nearly tripled the price during the last thirty seconds of the event, bringing the price up from $1.23 million, Ebay revealed.

Glide is an organization that provides meals for those in need, and runs a church in Tenderloin district as well. Proceeds from the auction are donated to the foundation each year, while the winning bidder and seven companions join Buffett for lunch at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in NY.

Since its inception 13 years ago, the lunch auction has raised over $14.6 million.

Buffett, a self-made billionaire and the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., has pledged a great portion of his wealth to charity. He was introduced to Glide by his first wife Susan Buffett, who passed away eight years ago.

“I was suspicious when I heard my wife raving about this place in San Francisco,” Buffett shares. “What I witnessed was an institution and an individual that really gave up on nobody,” he said, referring to Rev. Cecil Williams, the founder of the organization.

“They took the people that the rest of the world had forgotten, people who’d given up on themselves, and they felt that every human being had a potential,” he added.”

 

Lady Antebellum Visits Small, Tornado-Stricken Indiana Town

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On March 2nd, a devastating tornado struck a small southern Indiana town, damaging homes and buildings and destroying the local school.

Led by senior Ty Griffin, students from the Henryville Junior-Senior High School participated in an online contest to bring Lady Antebellum to play at the town. Not expecting to win a real visit from the Grammy Award-winning band, the teens were thrilled when the act arrived to surprise them with a private, prom-style show at the downtown arena in Louisville.

According to singer Hillary Scott, numerous high schools applied on behalf of Henryville, including several from Northern Wisconsin and even Henryville rival Silver Creek High School from Sellersburg, Indiana. She added that Silver Creek was the band’s original pick, but the students there gave up the win in support of Henryville’s bid.

“That was just such, honestly, an encouraging thing to think that those high schoolers, that generation, they’re that helpless, they want to help each other that much,” Scott said. “It was definitely an easy decision.”

 

Redlands Symphony Dancing with the Stars Gala Raises $40,000 for Charity

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The 27th annual Redlands Symphony Dancing with the Stars gala just drew to a close, with over 400 supporters participating in the charity auctions and numerous other activities. Organizers have shared that the event raised around $40, 000, which will be used to support the Redlands Symphony Orchestra’s music education programs, as well as the regular season.

“Music changes lives,” explained Paul V. Ideker, President and CEO of Redlands Symphony. “We put on professional concerts for kids to teach them all about music.”

He continued, “We have paid for school buses to bring in students to teach them about the beauty of music. Seeing children that respond to a full orchestra playing classical music is breathtaking.”

The gala, held this past Saturday night, began with two auctions; one silent and one live. A charity dinner and a ballroom dance contest were also highlights of the evening, both supporting the charity as well.

The auctions include items ranging from tires to restaurant gift cards, beauty and spa treatments and tickets to various events. There was a stay at the Mauna Kea Hotel in Hawaii; a trip to New York for two, including flights, hotel stays and several meals; a first class rail trip through Italy and tickets to a David Letterman show.

Dr. Jim Bennett, Cheryl Evans, Fire Chief Jeff Frzier, Kathy T. Maiberger, Shelli Stockton and Erik Laudenslager were all present at the Dancing with the Stars gala, much to their fans’ delight. The contestants’ families and friends all voted in the competition, donating one dollar per vote.

“In the last three years we’ve collected over $150,000 for the symphony’s causes,” Ideker revealed. “That’s just from the $1 votes.”

“It was a profitable night for music, kids and the Redlands Symphony,” said Dave VanLannen, a supporter. “It’s all about the kids.”

5th Annual Fire Charity Fishing Tournament Supports Child Burn Victims

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A Fire Charity Fishing Tournament was held in support of the Children’s Burn Camp several years ago in Bradenton, and has returned annually ever since.

Founder Erik Nicholson, an engineer for the East Manatee Fire District, makes sure that all of the event’s proceeds go to the charity, which supports child burn victims and allows them to forget about their appearances and form strong relationships with others like them. Since its inception, the tournament has raised more than $25,000.

He explained, “You spend most of your life trying to keep your head above water. For me, life was good and I wanted to do something to benefit others.

“It is so important for children who have been hurt by fires to have the opportunity to rebuild their lives and regain self-confidence. The burn camp provides those services and I’m proud our tournament provides money for their program.”

This year’s tournament caters to children as well, allowing supervised kids aged 5-12 to fish from the Bradenton Yacht Club seawall for only $10. The price also includes lunch on the scene from Chick-Fil-A, music, entertainment, free face paint, a bouncy house and arts and crafts. As for the tournament, “if it swims- it counts” and the biggest fish catcher gets a prize. All fish are released alive.

Committee Member Erin Craft explained the unique advantages of the event. “It’s an affordable way to promote outdoor activities and helping others,” she said. “We expect to see a lot of catfish, but any species is fun for the kids to reel in.”

Here are some highlights from last year’s event:

 

Penn State Coach’s Family to Donate $1.5 of Pension to Charity

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Joe Paterno coached at Penn State for 61 years, earning a state pension of $13.4 million. His widow, Sue, recently revealed that she will receive a bit more than $10 million, while the rest of the fund will be paid out over the next few years.

Spokesman Dan McGinn also revealed the family’s plans to donate $1.5 million to charities associated with Penn State or State College areas.

Paterno, a Hall of Famer, became Penn State’s top earner when he received a compensation package of $1.02 million from the university last year. The family explained, however, that the formula used to calculate the pension could not account for more than a $240,000 salary.

Though Paterno led Penn State to two national titles, the coach’s compensation was nowhere near as impressive as those of other famous college football coaches. Nick Saban of Alabama makes over $4.6 million a year, for example.

“Financial gain was never Coach Paterno’s top priority,” said McGinn. “He believed he was fortunate to work with great young men at one of the country’s premier academic institutions.”

He added that the Paternos have donated more than $9 million to Penn State, as well as to various non-profits.

“A commitment to give back to the community that had welcomed and supported them so fully was always a priority for Joe and Sue Paterno,” he said.

Restaurant to Donate 100% of Profits to Local Charities

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A new restaurant, called Local Food and Friends, was just established in Kansas with a goal of using only local food, and donating 100% of the profits to charity.

“I did a lot of research and no one had ever tried a concept like this in the United States, so we wanted to try it,” said the owner, Dave Dreiling. “Each month, we’ll pay off all of our bills, then we’ll take what’s left and we think we can generate between $5,000 and $10,000 per month in an average month.”

Each month, the restaurant will support a different local charity. The first is Flint Hills Breadbasket, whose mission is to “minimize hunger and poverty through the distribution of available food and to nurture projects that will help alleviate hunger and poverty.”

Dreiling said, “The needs are really high for the Breadbasket this time of year. We’re very excited to be partnered up with them for the rest of May and all of June.”

Flint Hills Breadbasket’s Maribeth Kieffer said “We were absolutely surprised and we can’t say thank you enough.”

She added, “I think that they are doing a one-of-a-kind thing, starting something that will maybe travel throughout the United States.”

“We’ll happily open up what we’ve done and how we’ve done it. If someone wanted to do this in every community across America, I think it’s a great way of answering how social and how corporate can help solve some of our problems without trying to get the government to do it,” Dreiling said.

 

Businessman Buys Out Closing K-Mart and Donates Store to Charity

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Rankin Paynter, was on an errand to purchase goods for his jewelry exchange business when he saw the local K-Mart was closing. At the cash register, he asked what the store was planning to do with its leftover merchandise. Upon learning that they would be sold to ‘power buyers’, he became one himself, and donated the entire store to charity. He even rented a building to store the items, worth $200,000, until next winter, when they are to be donated through Operation Happiness.

What I see is people coming in my store, needy people sell their stuff,” Paynter, who runs Rankin Paynter Buying Center, said. “It’s bad nowadays. I just told the clerk let’s just give it away to charity.”

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Drew Brees, Matthew McConaughey and Kenny Chesney Team Up for Charity

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This weekend, New Orleans hosted the third annual Amazing Race charity event with Drew Brees, Matthew McConaughey and a special visit from country superstar Kenny Chesney. Chesney joined the actor and Saints quarterback in support of the Brees Dream Foundation and McConaughey’s Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, performing at the House of Blues to end the event.

“We’ve been in tour rehearsals for weeks now so it was great for us to get on stage and feel the energy and feedback from the crowd,” Kenny said. “Tonight was all about playing music to help celebrate this great event. People in this town love music and helping out their neighbor and I was glad to be a part of it.”

Kenny had several duet partners throughout the night, including Brees, McConaughey and a lucky fan who joined Kenny for “Somewhere With You” for $10,000. The Amazing Race is the Brees Foundation’s signature event, with all proceeds benefitting the two charities. Created by Drew Brees and his wife Britney, the organization, as well as the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, works to provide care and education for underprivileged children and families in the area.

“Kenny has been a dear friend and always expressed interest in working with the foundation. This is such a wonderful way to end the race and his support means the world to us,” Brees and McConaughey said in a statement.

 

Charity Trap Shoot Supports Carousel Ranch

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Last week, the fourth annual How the West Was Won Charity Trap Shoot was held at the Newhall Pass in support of Carousel Ranch. The event, filled with 18 teams of 4, raised $21,000.

“We were only budged to raise $15,000, but we raised $21.000,” Carousel Ranch’s Denise Tomey exclaimed. “We were really excited at the turnout. This is a unique event and we are so happy to have sold out this year. The weather is perfect, today, too.”

Carousel Ranch is an organization that works to provide therapeutic and recreational riding lessons to disabled children. The non-profit currently helps over one hundred children and teens.

The Charity Trap Shoot is an annual shooting event that attracts benefactors and donations through outdoor, team-focused activities. All event participants are provided with massages, opportunities to shoot shotguns (often for the first time), shoot buckshot at bowling pins and shoot from the back of a fake horse.

“We try to keep everyone entertained and busy so we have a lot of other activities to participate in between the rounds of shooting,” explained Eric Stroh, chairman of the event.

Six of the eighteen competing teams had never held, let alone shot, guns before the event, Stroh said.

“This is a great charity and a great cause. How can you now support Carousel Ranch,” said Jeffrey Hacker, one of the inexperienced participants.

Stroh also thanked Benelli, the gun manufacturer, explaining that the charitable event would never be able to take place without the company’s help.

“Benelli sends us thousands of dollars of material each year, including all the hats and shooting prizes we rely on in order to complete the event. We couldn’t raise the money we do without their help. We are very grateful for their assistance,” he said.