A new beginning…a new event.
Change is really hard, but I am getting better at it.
Change is really hard, but I am getting better at it. It’s time to move on, to look ahead, to where I really want to go. Marty is up for sale, and I have my sights set on a time and place where we live and work and goof off together… and what better place to start than a good ol’ car show? Which is precisely what we are hosting! May 26th, the Saturday of Memorial day weekend, just mark that whole day down as busy.
Well, actually we aren’t hosting it, Bryan Vorce and his group at Testedntrue.com have agreed to organize us a core event that we think is going to be epic! Cars, motorcycles, food, drink, music, and hopefully much, much more! I will say it again (but this time in the voice of the guy that advertises monster truck events): May 26th at the Alan B. Pearson Regional Cancer Center.(And you can click on that link).
Though it began as a way to raise money to help people with cancer, my goal is to raise awareness, and not just for people whose lives have been hit by this heinous disease, but for the people who give their own lives to caring for them. There is so much here that most people have – thankfully – never seen, but that needs to change. Because these folks should be grouped with the real heroes of our world, the ones who work tirelessly in the hopes of making other people’s lives just a little bit better. If we do nothing else but give you a glimpse at what they do, I will call this event an over-the-top success.
Oh, and it’s also gonna be a metric crap ton of FUN! (Because that really is the meaning of life…)
As usual, I have all sorts of nefarious plans to try to hype this thing to the max. But by far my best idea (and most self-serving), is to figure a way to drive the zebra machine…the MadagasCAR…the chariot of Marty the Magnificent… from its current stable at Hammersley Motors on Lakeside Drive, to the cancer center over on Thomson. No, it’s not that far… but still…
Why is this a big deal? If I had a nickle for every time someone asked me if I could drive my race car to work, well, the patient fund at the cancer center would be quite a bit bigger. An Elan DP-02 is not exactly street legal. But what self-respecting car nut doesn’t want to drive their full-on racer across town?
Wait a minute, you ask…what’s the patient fund? The Cancer Patient Support Fund is a branch of the Centra Foundation that was created to help patients who have financial issues beyond their treatment and medical costs. Cancer can take its toll, and there are often many other aspects of a person’s life that may be affected. When we realized that nurses and other staff were literally digging into their own pockets to help, a fund was created to take on that burden. It’s been a huge success, but we intend to push it further.
I have enjoyed the hell out of racing, but I think I am going to get more satisfaction out of this: one way or another, all of the proceeds from the sale of Marty are going to go to the Patient Support Fund. I say one way or another, because we are going to take our time and make sure we maximize the tax laws and market and anything else we can leverage to do the most good.
So if YOU ever wanted to drive a race car to work… this may be your chance! Life is short! Buy this bad boy, blast though the streets of Lynchburg (we are working with the local constables to assure that your trip is <ahem> uninterrupted) and park it in the lobby while you sort out the details of where you want to begin your racing career. Or just take the tax deduction, enjoy being a hero, and sell it at a massive profit after I become famous! Win-win-win!
(That last part should only be run through sub-par actuaries).
The scope of this event just keeps expanding, from cars of all kinds to motorcycles, to bands, to food. But most of all: people. Over the next few weeks, I am going to use this blog to tell some stories. These are important stories, stories of unsung heroes who have done absolutely amazing things, who continuously make lives a little bit better, every day. And then you will have a chance to come and meet the actual people from those stories, real people. No, you won’t find them on magazine covers, in the newspaper, or featured on internet sites. But that only makes their efforts all the more impressive. And with all the negative crap that we seem to be dwelling on today, it’s high time you hear some tales of those who refuse to quit, who lay it all out there day in and day out to make the world just little bit brighter. These are my people, and I want to sing a song for them.
Well, except you don’t want me to actually sing. So I will just type…
May 26th!!!