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The Kansas City Blues Rugby Club had the honor of working closely with two philanthropic organizations in 2010 and 2011, Proje5t for ALS, and the Don Bosco Community Center.
Proje5t for ALS
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Bob Willson with Matt Tanner and Jim King. |
Proje5t for ALS was founded with one focus: to support its mission of improving the lives of people with this neurodegenerative disorder by promoting collaborative, translational research with real potential to help find a cure for ALS.
Proje5t for ALS was founded in 2010, as a non-profit 501 (c) 3, by Blues members Rich Ehlers, Joe Fridkin and Misty Fridkin to follow the vision of their friend Bob Willson who was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrigs disease, in September 2007. ALS is a progressive, fatal neuromuscular disease that slowly robs the body of its ability to walk, speak, swallow and breathe it affects roughly one in a 100,000 Americans. Sadly, Bob lost his battle with ALS on May 17, 2010.
Big Bob was driven by the lack of funding devoted to an illness with a near-universal fatality rate.
“You can give up or you can keep going. I have an obligation to teach my kids that when something bad happens to you, you need to be tough and go as long as you can and as hard as you can,” Bob said. “This disease is solvable. I probably won’t make it to the finish line, but we will win against ALS someday.”
The Blues are proud supporters of Proje5t, contributing to multiple events and campaigns for funding over the past year.
< Proje5t for ALS Website >
The Don Bosco Community Center
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Blues delivering presents during the Christmas season. |
In 2011 the Blues again took part in the Don Bosco Community Center Holiday Friends program, and special thanks to Tim Kluempers for again taking the lead on this massive project, and making sure all of the families were well taken care of during the 2011 Christmas season.
This Christmas, the Blues again teamed up with a number of generous families and organizations, raising the bar considerably in terms of contributions and participation in the Don Bosco event. Current and former Blues players, and a number of additional family members and friends participated in the shopping, wrapping, and delivery of the presents to all of the adopted families.
Able to raise (and spend) over $5.800 at Kohl’s on Shawnee Mission Parkway, the Blues organization, with the help of many Jr. Blues and St. Thomas Aquinas players, did another EXCELLENT job for the Don Bosco charity.
The staff at Kohl’s gave us a combined 30% discount on everything… we would not have been able to get nearly the amount of gifts as we did without the support of Kohl’s.
Again, to all of those who contributed to this charity event, a big THANK-YOU for representing the KC BLUES and your own families and organizations in such a positive light, and for doing your part to make a Merry Christmas possible for the under-privileged people who otherwise would not have had any Christmas at all.
All associated with the Kansas City Blues should be proud to be part of an organization that does so much to support those less fortunate in our community, and we look forward to again supporting Don Bosco in 2012!
< Don Bosco Community Center Website >
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