Karl here at Philly Future recently caught a small story about Fans Helping Fans, and he blogged a bit about it. The story was about how we at Fans Helping Fans had helped the Mirolli family in the last few days, and there's more about that story over at my usual hangout, The All Spin Zone, usually more of a political place than one to hype good works. I'm not just SpinDentist on All Spin Zone. I also serve as Vice Chair for Advancement for Fans Helping Fans, and in that role I go by "Stingo," as I do also on the Philadelphia Eagles Message Boards.
Fans Helping Fans is a labor of love to me, and helping the Mirollis was a special time. That's me in the orange shirt in a picture with the Mirolli kids, Logan and Leah up front, Leo in back, and little Luke in the middle. Fans Helping Fans is far, far more than just me. It's a whole group of people, all Eagles fans, and it is a labor of love to all of us. The story of how we got together is interesting. We're pretty much prototypical Eagles fans, do or die and sometimes crass, singing the fight song at the top of our lungs, but we're also folks who reach out and help. Heck, Rocky had a weakness for animals and homely girls, and we have a weakness for helping our fellow Eagles fans.
How is the story interesting? Well, we all met on that Philadelphia Eagles Message Board mentioned above. That's right, this is a charity started by people who first met online. And we had weird nicknames. Among our Board members you could find a Drinkin' at the Lincoln, notplainJane, ilikepargo, MadasHell and California Eagle. We were internet message board jokesters, funny ones at times, but still with no real socially redeeming value to speak of for our internet actions, until we came up with Fans Helping Fans. We're not yet a full year old, but we're laying the groundwork for growth -- this is not going to be a temporary charity that peters out after a year or so.
What does Fans Helping Fans do? We raise money all year round so that we can help Eagles fans in need. We raise money where Eagles fans gather to watch their team. So out in Portland Oregon a guy named Fred is hitting up the folks at the Eagle's Nest. We raised money at a Super Bowl Sunday 5K run this year in West Chester, and we're going to Training Camp this year with something very special. Hey, we're even going to make ourselves known at a play this week, Theatre Exile's The Philly Fan.
This first year of Fans Helping Fans has been about the most rewarding as possible for us Board members, and the people responsible for that are our donors. From an anonymous donor who gave us a very large gift to the folks donating just a buck at a time, we've had a very nice outpoouring of support from bunches of Eagles fans. Our fundraisers work hard. I mentioned Fred in Portland, but Thom, Steve, Chris, Emily and others have worked hard this last year. Our grant committee, headed by a California Pastor, has worked hard as well. To a large degree this has been a fine example of internet volunteerism, but with far more than a mere internet impact on the lives of the Mirollis and others.
We invite you all to join us if this is the kind of organization you could volunteer for. First, you've got to be an Eagles fan. We're looking for folks who can do fundraising. We can always use an accountant. Heck, anyone do PR, or even web design? Here's an opportunity for you to give back. Or, you can always donate to the cause. . . there's a link to donate online right there on our home page.
Thanks to everyone who has helped us, and to those in the future.
An Addendum
This really is a small but companionable organization. While most of our Board meetings are by teleconference, services provided to us pro bono by a large Center City law firm, we recently had an in-person Board meeting to cover fundraising plans for the year. I swear we had a riot. Wine was flowing, in part thanks to a Board member from California who shipped it to us. In general, you just can't get these folks together without breakouts of giggling.
It isn't all about doing good, but about community and sustaining community through creative means.
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