Thurs. May 10th

B+ Racing Visits A.I. duPont Hospital

As you’ll see in the link below from the Wilmington News-Journal, yesterday was an AMAZING day.

The day started by surprising B+ Hero, Joey Farrell, with a police escorted race car ride from his school (St. Elizabeth’s HS) to A.I. duPont Hospital.  Joey is a junior at the school and recently had brain surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy for medulloblastoma.  It was just awesome seeing the look on Joey’s face.

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120510/NEWS/205100313/Racing-ahead?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|p

Once we arrived at A.I. duPont Hospital, we were greeted by Dr. Kevin Churchwell, CEO of A.I duPont Hospital for Children.  Joining us outside at our B+ Fall-Line #45 BMW race car were Rep. Greg Lavelle, Minority Leader of the Delaware House of Representatives, our drivers (Al Carter & Hugh Plumb), our Fall-Line team owner (Mark Boden), the Chief Operating Officer  (Paul Gustafson) of our race sponsor and partner, BCKSTGR, and two amazing B+ Heroes, Joey Farrell and Nathan Silpath.  The surprises weren’t done.  Thanks to the generosity of BCKSTGR, Nathan will be dropping the green flag to start the “B+ Heroes 200 Presented by BCKSTGR” on Saturday and Joey will have the honors of waving the checkered flag — when our car, of course, finishes 1st!!!  BCKSTGR also generously presented us with a check for $5,000!

Check out the great picture that Rhonda Bowman captured of Nathan’s face as he heard the news that HE will be dropping the green flag.  Nathan, like Joey, is a HUGE racing fan.

Following our visit outside, our drivers headed inside to visit brave children battling cancers, sign some autographs, and give out free tickets to Saturday’s race in Millville, NJ.

~~~~~~~~~~~

6th Annual B+ Fighting Childhood Cancer 5k Run/Walk – Thurs. June 21st

The website is live for this year’s B+ 5k and we’re determined to make this year’s Run/Walk the best ever.  Go to the link below right now and create or join a team.  What we ask you to do is not only register to participate, but please take 2 minutes (that’s all) to send out the donation email (found on your team page) to 10-20 people.  You’ll be amazed at how much your team total will grow.  And, importantly, even if your friends decide not to financially support us, you’ve just helped us increase awareness of childhood cancers just by sending the 20 emails.

And, don’t forget, you’ll ingest more calories than you’ll burn 🙂 since we provide free hot dogs, free pizza, free Chick Fil-A, free pretzels, free produce, etc etc!

CREATE a team today!  It’s one of the biggest 5k events in DE and you’re guaranteed to have a blast.

https://www.elleevance.com/5K2012/EventLandingPage.aspx

~~~~~~~~~~~

Astra Zeneca Supports The B+ Foundation

Thank you, Astra Zeneca Cornerstone, for inviting me in to your offices today to discuss The B+ Foundation and our battle against childhood cancers.  We are honored that you have selected us as your beneficiary of your year-long, department-wide fundraising.  Hmmm, just think if other companies did this!  🙂

~~~~~~~~~~~

Live Like Andrew – Make a Difference Every Day

I think one of the primary goals in life is making a difference in at least one person’s life each and every day.  We have these forks in the road every day.  You can do the easy thing and pretend that you don’t see that opportunity to make a difference, or you can go out of your way – even a little – to make a difference.  It can be the smallest things like holding a door for someone or giving them a compliment.

I have many favorite “Andrew Stories”, but I’ll always remember receiving a note from an 8th grade classmate of his.  She said she was have a down day and felt a tap on her shoulder while sitting at her desk.  She looked up to see her curly-haired friend, Andrew.  Do you know what he said?  Nothing.  He just smiled to her.  She said it changed her whole day.  It would have been so easy for Andrew to just keep walking with his buddies to his desk.  No one would have ever known…except this young lady, of course.  Andrew knew in his heart what to do.  And, you know what, he never came home bragging about the kind thing he did that day.  He did it for all the right reasons.  As I stated above, we only learned about this story after Andrew had already gone to Heaven.  Walking a few feet out of his way and taking a few seconds to share a smile.  Doesn’t sound like much, does it?  But, it made a world of difference.

This past Monday, I was on a plane to Chicago.  As we jockeyed for positions in the race to get off the airplane at O’Hare (since, of course, we’re all so important and we have so many critical places we need to rush to), I felt a tap on MY shoulder.  I turned around and the man smiled to me and said, “ARE you Curly’s Dad?”.  I almost lost my balance.  I beamed and proudly said “Yes, I AM!”.  He said “I’ll talk to you once we get off the plane.”  As we’re walking up the jetway, he reminded me of a conversation that we had on the beach in Ocean City, NJ a few years ago.  Paul King, thank YOU for making my day by tapping me on the shoulder and asking if I AM “Curly’s Dad”.  I couldn’t stop smiling.  A seemingly small gesture can go a long way.

What are you going to do today to make a difference in someone’s life?

Enjoy the weekend….make memories.  I know we will, with about 50+ B+ Heroes/”forgotten heroes” (siblings)/and their families joining us for the “B+ Heroes 200 Presented by BCKSTGR”!

B+

Ali & Andrew’s Dad

www.caringbridge.org/visit/andrewmcdonough

Previous
Previous

Fri. May 19th

Next
Next

Sun. May 6th