It was a great night out.. We sold 129 Tickets, raffled off some great items and in the end, we were able to "Give A Hand" and enjoy a screening of the classic Bruce Brown film On Any Sunday at the Lark Theater in Downtown Larkspur, CA
On a personal note, it was an honor for me to sit and watch On Any Sunday with my 3 year old since this would be his first movie, and to cap it off to sit next to mert and watch it was an added double-bonus.
So many people came and got to meet Mert
Lawwill, Greta Neimanas (2008 Para-Olympian) & Jake McCullough,
an 18 year old who has been using Mert's hand for 10 years.
The Give A Hand program is a fundraiser for the 501 (c) 3 MertsHands.org built by The Mojotown Project.
Special Thanks To Lagunitas Brewary for the generous doantion to the event.
After a short holiday break I’ve finally had a chance to fully absorb our Dec 22nd 2007, fundraising event and compiled a video clip of the day. I hope everyone who attended had a great time getting in one last ride for 2007. (full page of video's here )
I was very happy with the turnout, and Blake and his family were amazed and touched by the support they received. Anyone who got a chance to meet Blake could see why I was inspired to help him. It was great to have an opportunity to make a positive impact on someone’s life, and I was glad to share that with so many people, and have fun in the process.
I wanted to thank a few people who helped make the day such a success:
Anya Aron - Wife of, yes, Michael Aron - Organization of raffle
Jenah Smith - Infineon Raceway who helped me with initial planning and registration early in the morning.
Vernon Glenn - KRON4 News Feature
Michael Earnest - Pacific Track Time for the Riders Meeting
Tom Dorsey, Mario Gonzales, Zip Showket and Jason Butler - tech and safety riding.
Phill Brown and the crew of the AFM Corner Workers - these folks never cease to amaze me with their selfless volunteering.
Cary Hilt, Robert Kalis, Kimberly Scheffel (Kimberly, thrust into auction table organizer)
And finally Connie Figaniak, from Phill’s crew. I don’t know what I would have done without her -she was my right arm the entire day!
and so many others who helped contribute to the day...
All in all the day was a hit and the weather provided us with a very crisp, but clear day of riding. We had a few incidents but nothing shut us down for long and nobody was seriously hurt.
This was the first fundraiser through the Mojotown Project 501 (c) (3) and at times during the process I felt like was doing my own version of Donald Trump’s Apprentice. The event took more out of me than I imagined it would. It was a monumental effort and I learned a lot in the process.
The outcome: Together, we raised over $27,000 with rider entries,
auction items, raffle & lunch tickets, and monetary donations. The
lunch was tasty, the raffle was entertaining, and the silent auction
was full of friendly competition. Congratulations to Mike Marelli for
winning Blake’s Triumph – Mike and Blake only live blocks apart, so
visitation rights are being negotiated.
Due to the Holiday timing of our event we are still in the process of
paying some of the expenses of the day, so I don’t yet know where we’ve
netted out, however, we can rest assured that we’ll be giving Blake
almost more than the insurance company gave him.
With the event successfully behind me, I have newfound admiration for event planners and track employees (the staff at Infineon Raceway is awesome). When I arrived at the track in the morning (having been up all night) I realized how much I still had to do - if not for Phill Brown and the Crew of Corner workers I would have been in trouble. For insurance reasons I couldn’t let the Corner Workers do their normal corner jobs on-track, but they took that in stride and pitched in everywhere else, and they truly saved me.
On the Thursday night before the event we were featured in a “feel-good” sports piece with Vern Glenn of KRON4 News.
That brought out new people who not only got on track (for the first time), but also made donations to the cause.
Thank you Vern for coming out to meet Blake and putting together such a nice piece.
It was great to get a chance to scoot around the track myself for a few laps and see such a variety of motorcycles out there. I was running on no sleep and a big load of adrenalin, so I hope I didn’t scare any of you with close passes.
*** Due to the overwhelming volume of stuff I was doing, during the raffle I failed to get some of your information. If you won an item with an IOU coupon for the actual product, Please contact me ASAP so I can mail out the goods as they come in.
I would also like to know who the winner of the Top Shelf Motorcycle Tour was. If anyone knows who this was, please let them know to contact me at the Mojotown office 415-381-3029 or on my cell 415-717-6996.
Thank you all for participating in the event!
A special thank you to the following for their donations:
A/O Winery, Napa Valley
Amazing Grace Music, San Anselmo Anthony Hopkins Bazzaz Performance
Ben Bostrom w/ Suomy USA
Bruce Brown Films
Catalyst Reaction Suspension
Catering - Levy Restaurants
Dave Moss - Catalyst Reaction Suspension
Davero wines
Doug Parkhurst - video footage
Dunlop – Sport Tire Service Eraldo Ferracci - Fast By Ferracci Golden Gate Cycles
Hattar Motor Sports
Joe Salas - 4theriders.com Photography
Juanita Restaurant, Sonoma
Keigwins @ the track
Klaus Larsen - Photography
La Ginestra, Mill Valley
Lang Wines
Marin BMW Motorcycles Mat Mladin
Mert Lawwill Mike Doran - D&W Images
Moto Meccanica
Neves Racing
North Bay Motor Sports
Ora Restaurant, Mill Valley
Orchard Hardware
Pirelli Tires - Tiger Shark Racing
Red Truck Wines
Redline Power Sports
Redline Racing Products Rich Oliver
Scuderia West Steve Rapp
Tommy Hayden w/ Chicken Hawk Tire Warmers
Top 1 Oil w/ Team Roberts Gear
Travis Pynn - aerial photography.
Vascos Restaurant, Mill Valley
Wild Pear Co. Tomales, CA
Z2 Track Days
Zero Gravity - Windscreens
