Rollin’ For a Cure in Northern California

This whole thing started over 6 months ago when I was contacted by the Swimstitute (http://www.swimstitute.com/) in Sacramento, California about flying out to help start up a log rolling program with Jamie Fischer. One thing led to another and Scott and Todd were planning a huge Huntington’s Disease fundraiser to promote the launch of log rolling in Northern California AND to raise money and awareness for Huntington’s research.

I was shocked and thrilled about how much time these guys (especially Scott!) were putting into this event. Here’s a breakdown of the weekend:

Our first morning here we did an entire morning of news shots with Bethany Crouch and Fox 40 news. You can see the footage here: http://www.fox40.com/news/onthemove/ (scroll to February 26th)

Molesting "Jack" in front of Lumberjacks Restaurant

This fun morning was followed by brunch and my new favorite restaurant in the entire world (sorry Laredos)- Lumberjacks! Not only is the food amazing and the décor like home for me, they show continuous footage of the STIHL Timbersport Series on 10 large flat screen TVs! It was so fun watching myself compete while eating. After dinner we went outside with Scott the owner and he let me climb to the top of “Jack” the lumberjack. On top of all of this, they donated a percentage of their sales to HDSA! I’m still giddy about how wonderful this restaurant was! Check out their website at: http://www.lumberjacksrestaurant.com/ After another news appearance on the local NBC station and yet another wonderful meal at Lumberjacks, I crashed hard and slept like a baby.

Me and Jamie getting ready for our big event

Saturday was the day of the big event. My two life passions are lumberjack sports and raising funds and awareness for HD- and I now have TWO events that combine those! Many vendors showed up and Jamie and I educated the crowd about log rolling and Huntington’s Disease before hosting a celebrity filled beginners log rolling tournament. These celebs included Olympic gold medalist Jeff Float and Olympic triathlete Victor Plata. So cool! At the end of the event an older couple came in to check things out. They heard about the fundraiser on the news and having Huntington’s in their family, wanted to stop by. They were unaware of the large support network for HD families in the Northern California area, and were immediately connected with Penny the regional director. Now this family will not feel alone. I’m not sure how much money was raised, but personally, I’m not too concerned. This one connection made the entire event worthwhile.

Me convincing everybody in the audience they REALLY need to buy raffle tickets for the STIHL Chainsaw

Saturday night ended with a comedy show at Tommy T’s comedy club. They donated 100% of ticket proceeds to HDSA! They also let us sell raffle tickets for the chainsaw donated by STIHL and other wonderful prizes. People went CRAZY over these tickets! Jamie and I couldn’t sell them fast enough! A HUGE thank you to STIHL and other donors for this event.

Today I couldn’t stop smiling from all of the excitement. I taught three one hour lessons (of which the money was donated to HDSA- it never stops!) to some really fun locals. They are all very excited about the program starting out here.

I cannot thank Scott, Todd, and Penny enough for making this event happen. I’m also so grateful for Jamie to come and help out. Such a great weekend… I can’t wait to do it next year!!!