Fundraisers

First of all, to those of you that don't know me that well, or my background, I grew up in a very small, rural area of western Pennsylvania. Greene County is one the poorest areas in the country, but that's only measuring wealth in terms of dollars. We are rich when it comes to a lot of things: trees, blue skies, clean air, cows, open land, game hunters, coal miners, tobacco chewers, trucks, dirty boots, etc. Its a bucolic place, and one that is definitely worth a visit to see in all its natural splendor.

Growing up in such a "country" place, I never realized the uniqueness of some of our traditions. Take for example a typical fundraiser in Greene County. When I played high school football(again, the benefit of such a small area...a guy like me can be a decent football player!) we had a fundraiser for the team. It was called Cow Chip Bingo. Now, for my city dwelling friends or those uninitiated in rural American lexicon, a cow chip is not something you would want to eat. Its not like a potato chip, its an organic object, produced only by cows. We also produce chips, but ours get flushed....I hope you get the picture.

Anyways, for CCB, the football field would get partitioned off into 1000 small squares, each clearly marked with a white powder, so the crowd that would come to watch could sit in the stands and clearly see the football field, which, with the squares, resembled a giant Bingo card or maybe a giant green piece of graphing paper. People lined up at the field and bought tickets representing different squares for $10 a pop, and they would amble up into the stands to find a vantage point for the show that was about to begin.

The show consisted of Farmer ___________(insert name here - Brown is probably most appropriate considering the purpose of his cow) bringing his cow to the center of the field, people cheering, a countdown...5...4...3...2...1....and then people intently watching a cow chew its cud, waiting for the action at the other end of the beast. Two of the three years I attended we had a cow that apparently relished the spotlight, as it took him/her at least 30 minutes to drop the coveted chip on the field. (The other year, the cow was released, and within 30 seconds he was finished...much to the delight of the crowd, as the temperature was well into the 90's). Once the chip was dropped, they would bring out judges(I'm not kidding...) to make sure the chip landed completely in one square (one year there was controversy because the chip landed on the line, but the judges quickly determined that most of the chip landed to the right of the line.)

The square's number was announced, and the person who had purchased that ticket took home 50% of the gate, the other 50% went to the football team. Believe it or not, this fundraiser was a huge success.

Now, I write this as background for what took place this past weekend. There is a young man in our county, a police officer with two young children, who recently found a large tumor growing on the back of his brain. Doctors in the US have little hope, but there is a promising experimental procedure that could be done in China that could remove the tumor and save his life. The only problem is the expenses are exorbitant. The flights to and from China, the surgery itself, the lost pay from his job, etc. His insurance won't cover it, and his family doesn't have that kind of money. That's where the people of my county, the proud, hard-working, caring and compassionate people that I am fortunate to call my neighbors, friends and mentors came in. They organized the newest kind of fundraiser - a motorcycle ride, which ask for a minimum donation of $20 to participate, although most people donated much more, and then proceeds to wind a route through picturesque Greene County. A lot of the men(and women) in my county own a bike, so it shouldn't have surprised me that this bike ride/fundraiser was a huge success. Apparently over $50000 was raised, and it looks like this young man and his young family might have a chance at the impossible. Being away for two years, I started to forget what it was I missed most about America, and Americans. This event reminded me...once again.

Here's the clip of some of the bikes...unofficial count has anywhere between 400 and 500 motorcycles participating. I am standing in front of my high school taking this video, and coincidentally my parents zoom by on their motorcycle early in the clip...you'll hear my "Hey!!!!!" Enjoy....and please, if you feel moved to donate to this cause, write in my comments, and I will pass along the pertinent information.