missmollyb.com - Fundraising Efforts

Fundraising Efforts
After Molly's diagnosis, some of our very dear friends took it upon themselves to set up a fund for our family. It is due to their giving hearts that the "Friends of Molly Birmingham" fund helped us foot the bill for things insurance wouldn't cover throughout this ordeal. We are forever thankful to all who have participated in making the "Friends of Molly Birmingham" fund such an overwhelming success in easing the financial burden of our situation. The stories below and many personal contributions leave us eternally grateful.

Molly Bowl 2001 Molly Bowl 2001 was held on Saturday, February 24th, 2001, at Marigold Bowl in Chicago. Freddy Fagenholz, the owner of Marigold, was very generous to host the event. It was an overwhelming success orchestrated by Bob Kime, Bob Pike, and Molly's Aunt, Julie Birmingham. Friends and family came from all over. Even friends of friends who didn't know sweet Miss Molly came to show their support. Also, the news media heard about it and joined in the fun as they covered the event for that evening's 10:00pm news! Each bowler gathered sponsors to support their bowling frames. Teams were put together upon the guests' arrival, and bowling continued throughout the afternoon. A raffle and silent auction were also held. Prizes were donated by many Chicago organizations and also, friends stepped up and contributed, too.
Some of the prizes were: Blackhawks tickets Bulls tickets Shedd Aquarium certificates Cubs tickets U2 Concert tickets Sox tickets Tee shirts A night at the Hyatt downtown Spa certificates Restaurant gift certificates And many many more items! Right: Molly Bowl planners Bob Pike, Julie Birmingham, and Bob Kime, choose the lucky raffle winners.

Above Left: "Bowling Gals" Regan Kelly, Julie Birmingham, Liz White, Beth O'Keefe, and Jenny Weber sell raffle tickets. Above Right: Thanks to DiscoverCard, all participants were given a Discover t-shirt when they signed up. Bowling shirts that sported the Molly Bowl 2001 logo on them were designed by a friend at Discover. They were purchased by many and some were given away in the raffle.

Fun was had by all! TJ came as the representative of the family and he really showed his stuff with the bowling ball. Even though John, Jenny and Molly were unable to be there, they were not forgotten... their pictures smiled on all who attended! Molly Bowl 2001 was a huge success!

	The Dunton House Afghan Raffle for Molly While Molly was in North Carolina, very dear friends and neighbors in the Arlington Heights community participated in a raffle at our family's favorite breakfast spot in town, the Dunton House. Pictured to the left is Nancy, the hostess of the Dunton House, and her employee who made the afghans, which helped raised money for Molly's fund. We are forever grateful to the generous hearts of all those who helped support our family while we were away!

Regina Dominican High School shows support for Molly Jenny's alma mater, RDHS, held a jeans day in honor of Molly. For $1 per student, girls could wear jeans to school instead of their uniform. Those who participated were given a button to wear with Molly's picture on it. The money collected was donated to Molly's fund. What an amazing contribution from such kind-hearted young women. They've never even met Molly, or our family!

Support from the workplace was overwhelming... After Molly's diagnosis, and upon our decision to stay at Duke, many people stepped forward to help our cause. Both Jenny and John's employers were first in line to lend a hand. Many employees at Learning Resources, Inc. donated some of their precious vacation days to us, so that Jenny could be paid for a few additional months after leaving her job so abruptly. In addition, a large group of employees at Discover Card organized a mega-raffle with many of their merchants in the industry. All proceeds (and even one of the biggest prizes) were donated to our family. We are so touched by the generosity shown to us by our coworkers. Thank you!