Successful Fundraiser!

The fundraiser at Dogfish Head was a big success! We had a great turnout throughout the day into that late Tuesday night. I saw friends, family, coworkers, Sigma Pi brothers, strangers, tall people, short people ... etc., etc. :) Thank you to everyone who showed up, ate, drank, sang, danced, bid in the silent auction, bought raffle tickets, and overall showed your support.

In the end, we raised over $4,700! Dogfish Head donated about $1,800 of that based on 15% of the profits it made that day. I not only love Dogfish Head beer, but also the food, staff, and overall organization. I truly cannot say enough nice things about Dogfish.

Originally, when we started collecting donations for the Nathan B. Marti Scholarship Fund in October 2007, the Radford University Foundation gave us 5 years to raise $15,000 in order for the scholarship to become endowed, which meant we would then be able to award a scholarship to a student each year. To date, only 1 year and 9 months later, we have raised close to $23,000. I am shocked by this number ... and completely thrilled. We hope to be able to award the first scholarship to a student in fall 2010.

Now that we've far surpassed our original goal, are we going to stop here? No way. I would like to hold one fundraiser a year for Nathan and to keep growing the scholarship fund. The sky's the limit regarding how much we can raise. To me, the scholarship and fundraisers have multiple purposes: first and foremost, to honor Nathan and serve as a memorial to his life and what he means to us; to help me channel my grief in a positive way; to financially help a Radford student who shares similar interests with Nathan; to give friends and family a way to show their support, remember Nathan, and perhaps help them in their grieving; and frankly, is a great excuse to get together with good friends and party, something Nathan really loved to do.

So for now, I'm going to rest and take this time to bask in the generosity and awesomeness that came from this fundraiser, and reenergize myself for the party next year.