From Boston to Bankstown #GoDoggies
Donation protected
UPDATED: 100% of contributions to Westmead Children's Hospital Burns Unit
Friends, family, lovers and all of Doggies nation,
My name is Bill and I am a Bankstown Bulldogs fan, through and through since way back in February of 2014. In February, my friend, Australian firefighter and future mayor of Orange, New South Wales, Mitch Crump and I were sitting in the pub watching a replay of the 2013 NRL Grand Final on the last night of my Australian tour. Given the excitement of last year’s match, we decided to place a bet that our beloved Doggies would win the 2014 Grand Final, coupled with a handshake and agreement that should they make the Grand Final I would return to Australia to watch the match with Crumpy. A strong start to the Bulldogs campaign had me excited, a mid-season swoon had me relieved that it was looking unlikely I’d have to buy a last minute plane ticket from New York to Australia and a stirring run through the back end of the season into the Grand Final left me shaking my head in disbelief. A text from Crump minutes after the preliminary final result said it all: “We’re off the to Grand Final Bill!”
I knew I couldn’t let Crumpy down, so as a bit of a laugh, my roommate Paull Young set up a Go Fund Me account in an effort to cut into the cost of my flights. The story picked up some traction on Facebook as Paull is a titan of social media (his words) and due to the incredible generosity of my friends, we started raising money (I’m not going to read into the fact that people were actively contributing to send me to the other side of the planet…) While very much appreciated, taking money from friends for just a funny story of my 4 day weekend in Australia in return wasn’t sitting right, so Crump, my roommates and fellow members of Mega-House, Charlie Nordfeldt, Chase Edge, Paull Young and I decided to use the general excitement from this adventure to do a bit of good. So here’s an update…
· My flights are booked and I arrive in Sydney at 7:00am Saturday. You could say #littlebitexcited
· 100% of the contributions we have received so far ($636 as of this posting) will be donated to the burns unit at Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney, New South Wales. I asked Crumpy if there was a particular cause he’d like to see the money go to and he immediately replied the burns unit. I asked why and his response summed it up perfectly:
“It’s important to me, being a firefighter. Burns are terrible, painful injuries and if we can make the kids time in hospital slightly less difficult then that is something little we can do to help.”
· If this whimsical journey brought a :) to you we’d love if you’d consider helping us attempt to bring a little :) to the patients at Westmead. We’re keeping the link to the original Go Fund Me page live for now, with the plan to have us present a check in the amount of 100% of all contributions:
We’re planning to reach out to Westmeade Children’s to see if there is a more direct way to handle donations, but wanted to get our idea out there ASAP.
50 hours and 29 minutes of travel for 80 minutes of rugby and the story of a lifetime. Watch this space for updates from our adventure, but most importantly…
Up the Doggies!
Friends, family, lovers and all of Doggies nation,
My name is Bill and I am a Bankstown Bulldogs fan, through and through since way back in February of 2014. In February, my friend, Australian firefighter and future mayor of Orange, New South Wales, Mitch Crump and I were sitting in the pub watching a replay of the 2013 NRL Grand Final on the last night of my Australian tour. Given the excitement of last year’s match, we decided to place a bet that our beloved Doggies would win the 2014 Grand Final, coupled with a handshake and agreement that should they make the Grand Final I would return to Australia to watch the match with Crumpy. A strong start to the Bulldogs campaign had me excited, a mid-season swoon had me relieved that it was looking unlikely I’d have to buy a last minute plane ticket from New York to Australia and a stirring run through the back end of the season into the Grand Final left me shaking my head in disbelief. A text from Crump minutes after the preliminary final result said it all: “We’re off the to Grand Final Bill!”
I knew I couldn’t let Crumpy down, so as a bit of a laugh, my roommate Paull Young set up a Go Fund Me account in an effort to cut into the cost of my flights. The story picked up some traction on Facebook as Paull is a titan of social media (his words) and due to the incredible generosity of my friends, we started raising money (I’m not going to read into the fact that people were actively contributing to send me to the other side of the planet…) While very much appreciated, taking money from friends for just a funny story of my 4 day weekend in Australia in return wasn’t sitting right, so Crump, my roommates and fellow members of Mega-House, Charlie Nordfeldt, Chase Edge, Paull Young and I decided to use the general excitement from this adventure to do a bit of good. So here’s an update…
· My flights are booked and I arrive in Sydney at 7:00am Saturday. You could say #littlebitexcited
· 100% of the contributions we have received so far ($636 as of this posting) will be donated to the burns unit at Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney, New South Wales. I asked Crumpy if there was a particular cause he’d like to see the money go to and he immediately replied the burns unit. I asked why and his response summed it up perfectly:
“It’s important to me, being a firefighter. Burns are terrible, painful injuries and if we can make the kids time in hospital slightly less difficult then that is something little we can do to help.”
· If this whimsical journey brought a :) to you we’d love if you’d consider helping us attempt to bring a little :) to the patients at Westmead. We’re keeping the link to the original Go Fund Me page live for now, with the plan to have us present a check in the amount of 100% of all contributions:
We’re planning to reach out to Westmeade Children’s to see if there is a more direct way to handle donations, but wanted to get our idea out there ASAP.
50 hours and 29 minutes of travel for 80 minutes of rugby and the story of a lifetime. Watch this space for updates from our adventure, but most importantly…
Up the Doggies!
Organizer
Paull Young
Organizer
New York, NY
