Last Wednesday evening I was notified of a benefit concert in the works to raise money for the Wildland Firefighter Foundation in honor of the Granite Mountain crew. Initially, I was approached to simply give Berke the event flyer to post around his work offices. That wasn't enough for me and I asked what else they needed. I got to work pushing the event in our circles, getting people we knew lined up as potential donors and 36 hours later, I found myself covered in sweat at 9am at softball fields putting together event tents, setting up tables and chairs, smashing ice, and making friends
5pm rolled around, and even though the concert did not start until 6pm, we had a steady stream of people coming in. We scarfed down dinner (I finally got to try Diablo Burger!) and got to work. After spending the whole day there already, the time from 5pm to 11pm just flew by. It was an awesome blur of selling raffle tickets, talking with new and old friends, sharing stories, enjoying the music, and raising money. There was an amazing turnout for something that was planned and executed in roughly 4 days. It was great just to see Flagstaff come out to graciously and unconditionally give what they could for a great cause. In the end, the event raised $40,000 to be donated to the Foundation! It was just a beautiful evening and I am glad just to have been there.
2 comments:
So cool that you guys did this. Every little (or big) bit helps those families find a little more security. <3
It was so awesome to just be there. They did read the bios of the guys, 4-5 every 30 minutes and that was hard but overall, it was a great event. I am still blown away and humbled by the generosity!
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