19 Days ago...

This is something Dustin has been working on and wanted me to throw up on the blog. I think technically now its 20 days ago, but who's counting.


19 days ago…
19 days ago something pretty cool happened. No… it wasn’t a “Happy Hour into a lush fest at Landmark” what so many people my age do on a Saturday night (not that there is anything wrong with that). It had nothing to do with going to a sporting event, a vacation or going out for the first time in a new outfit. For me, 19 days ago, was an event that I will never forget. It was where people came and ate beef (and more), drank beer (and more) and just overall had a good time. To me however, it was oh so much more.
19 days ago I saw friends from every aspect of my life… even the shady ones. From church, college, to high school, to my beloved Cmedia coworkers, to radio colleagues, to fellow fantasy football nerds, to the many parents of the aforementioned friends. Now I have never been one for buffet style eating, where the choices are vast and the limits are nonexistent , but seeing all the people who made it out despite how close we may be or how recently we may have communicated, has now made me think that so many choices from so many categories isn’t such a bad thing. I saw friends who I haven’t seen in 5, 7, or even over 10 years. I also saw friends who traveled as far as Pittsburgh, Washington Dc, and even Tennessee. Now, anyone who knows me would know that I would rarely shy away from calling myself awesome. But, despite how awesome I always knew I was, I couldn’t help but feel undeserving of all the attention. Awesome as I am, I’m just Dustin, the sarcastic, sometimes shy, easy to complain, guy who used to eat too many fish sticks as a kid and who openly admits a love for the movie “Love Actually”. None the less, seeing so many people that I am grateful of knowing forced me to do just about everything I could to not start crying tears of thankfulness. It was definitely a very profound “God is good” moment in my life.
19 days ago I was a loss for words seeing the unbelievable coordination, organization and preparation that was obviously involved in an event like this. Over the past 4 months a number of people spent a great deal of their personal time planning for this event. People like Kate Dooner, Matt and Alex Belyus, Jordon Claruis, Tom Pratt, Chris Deese, Ashley Justin, who would meet monthly to go over how things were coming together as April 10th approached. People like Keith Reed who took it upon himself to offer up his professional skills as a tattoo artist and create a raffle, generating The Human Fund’s first funds. Even the dozens of people who volunteered on the event, whether it was serving drinks, food, selling raffle tickets or working the silent auction touched me profoundly that night. And finally last but definitely not the least, I want to thank my two brothers, my best men, Aaron Thompson and Steve Justin. The work that these two put forth for me not only made me feel pretty damn special, but it was also mighty inspiring. Here were so many people doing so much for little ole me I couldn’t help but feel inspired to get better so that I may one day pay this forward.
I could spend hours talking about the events of 19 days ago and will certainly spend my lifetime remembering it. I often feel that the simple words “thank you” don’t quiet do the trick for me when I’m expressing deep gratitude. So if you will allow me, please accept this as my thank you to everyone who came out, donated, spent time with me, organized, cooked, and was a part of my beef and beer. My thank you will be this: Everyday when I wake up and I fight every fight of this disease I will think of you all. When I am down and depressed I will think of you all. And as every day goes by and I continue to attempt to make ALS my bitch, it will be you all that I am thinking of every step of the way.
19 days ago it was called a Beef, Beer and More. Now I’m working so that I can call it my Lifesaver.
With all love,
D-man

Tonight 4/29 on CNN

Anderson Cooper 360 does a special on ALS.... Watch it, set your DVR's. It's on at 10:00 PM EST.

Update - April 24th

Just a real quick update.

The Out and Back race was last night, and was a blast. Expect a blog post about that in the near future. It's every year, and every year it supports ALS. So if you missed it this time around, no excuses next year!...You can also walk it too, so really, no excuses.

And on a completely unrelated to Dustin note... the Flyers have advanced to the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. So get Flyered up.... Dustin's a Flyers fan actually, so there, now its related.

Beef, Beer, and More Video

One more big thank you to every single person that helped out in some way with the Beef, Beer, And More on April 10th.

It was truly an awesome time. I can't thank the people that volunteered enough. This event wouldn't have worked without you. No matter what "job" you took up during this event, or before it for that matter, it wouldn't have worked without you.

No one person could have done all of this together. Having a community of people that are willing to lend a hand is sadly, a rare thing anymore. The amount of people that helped blew us away.

For this to run as smoothly as it did, everything needed to come together. I've told a lot of people this, and will say it again. It absolutely blows that we had to have this. But, having all these great people to lean on, that will just smile, and do whatever is needed, no questions asked, is the complete opposite.. it absolutely sucks... yes, this event sucked really really hard...(get it? opposite...heyo!)


Sooo anyways, thanks again to every single person that came out, bought a ticket, made a donation in some way, or that just sent thoughts, prayers, and good vibes are way.

I know other people have talked about other ways to fund raise for Dustin throughout this year. Whenever I learn of any of them, i'll be sure to throw them up here. And if not, I know we are already planning for next years! And truth be told, any event for Dustin i'm confident will be a success, because, for a guy, who I always thought was a bit of a dork, a lot of people seem to love the kid.

Please don't let the fact that there isn't a "party" coming up, be an excuse to sit back, and have the "i did my part" mindset. Keep hustlin' and raising awareness for Dustin. Keep visiting him, keep praying for him.

If you feel moved to do so, please support these local businesses that stepped up, and wanted to help out Dustin.... screw all the ones that shot us down.

Taylor Rentals
Benny's Pizza
Snyder Moore Insurance Agency
Garnet VW
D'Ambrosio Bakery
Victory Brewing
The Ice Butler
Campbell's
Devault Foods
Giant, Sam's Club, Acme

I'm still in the process of sending out thank you letters. So if you haven't gotten one, it's probably on the way.... there's literally almost 100 im sending out, so forgive me if you get lost in the shuffle, its not intentional.

Hope everyone enjoys the video. Google videos and YouTube limit you to 10 minutes per video. It took me quite a while to get this down to 9:59. I did however, have a lot of fun making this. Dustin is the one that got me into video editing and whatnot, so I feel as thought I have a high standard to live up to, as well as a tough critic watching.. Sooo Dustin, enjoy it... And yes, i'm aware its fast and shaky at parts... this crap is hard.

*Sorry to anyone who's pictures I stole from Facebook.


....ONE LAST THING TO READ!: I uploaded this to YouTube about a week ago, everything you read above this I typed out, and was ready to go. However, IMovie 09 has an audio glitch that happens when you speed frames up, and you only notice it after it's exported. That being said, I tried my best to patch over the bad parts. Hope you enjoy.

Out & Back run, less than a week away!

If you were lucky enough to sign up for the now SOLD OUT Out & Back Party Run, this Friday, April 23rd, we have T-shirts!

A big thanks to Tom Himsworth for designing these.

There were approximately 25 people that registered under the team name, The Human Fund. We'll have shirts for you there at the event.

If you have any questions about these at all, please contact either Matt Belyus or Katie Beauchamp.

Matthew.manzo@gmail.com
Kbea8184@gmail.com








* Beast Mode is an inside joke we had with Dustin during Fantasy Football this past year.

Like the Phillies? Hate ALS?

Then you should come out to the Phillies Phestival on May 24th. What else are you going to do on a Monday night?

Beef, Beer, and More..and by more*

I think it was around November or so when Dustin started some IV treatment on his arm. We knew that the IV treatment was way more expensive than anything, anyone should ever have to pay for that type of thing. Being that Dustin is such a prideful guy, and would never ask for help, and convinced that the IV treatment was going to fix his arm, and that would be the end of all of this, a few of us thought about fundraising for Dustin.


Well everyone knows that the IV treatment was just the beginning, and that fundraising was no longer just a good idea, but more of a necessity. So, thus began, all of this Beef, Beer and More madness.


There were a few reasons we called if a Beef, Beer, and More. The obvious being that we had a whole lot more than Beef and Beer. We wanted as many people as possible to be excited to come. (This was when we thought that it wouldn’t sell out and we’d have to advertise like crazy). But also, because this fundraiser was way more than your average Beef and Beer.


I think Mike Carney said it best when we were setting up on Saturday. Mike, being a Delco native, said something along the lines of “this is no longer a Delaware County Beef and Beer…it’s a total Chester County fundraiser”


Anyways, the past 4 months have been crazy. I don’t think I’ve ever gone through the range of emotions I did, ever in my life. I can’t thank my mom and family enough for putting up with me. Our entire living room became Beef and Beer headquarters. Shortly thereafter, so did our garage. They saw me excited to help my friend, to being stressed out stuff wasn’t going as planned, or that none of the bigger corporations we asked for help would help us… They also saw my breaking point when I got a call from someone that told me what I was doing was against God… annnd I might have told her to F off and punched a granite counter top.


However, more than anything, there were tons of cool things that would happen. Whether it was a random check coming in the mail, saying “use this to help defray the costs of the Beef and Beer”, or us hearing back from a company that wanted to help. Or more than anything, words of encouragement from people. People wanting to help, understanding if they couldn’t. The support for this was amazing.
One of the coolest things about this whole process, was seeing how many different people from different areas of Dustin’s life, or that knew people that knew Dustin, wanted to help.


And trust me, EVERYONE wanted to help. The phrase “too many chef’s in the kitchen” was thrown around a time or two… Probably one of the funnier things about this was that people would tell us that they’ve planned these things before, or been to these things, and “this is how they are done”. Interestingly enough, every time we were told “this is how it’s done”, every person told us something different.


So the few us planning this, decided to do this our way. And we’re glad we did. Because we truly think we did this the way we would have if Dustin was planning it with us… So for everyone that was bummed they couldn’t “help” or whatever, don’t be. There’s gonna be more stuff, more opportunities to do stuff, to come out, etc. etc…. Plus, most people probably wouldn’t have been able to hang with our group.


The average meeting consisted of the following: John’s Pizza, sitting around the island in my parent’s kitchen, making crude jokes, making fun of each other, talk about what needs to get done, and who’s taking care of it, more making crude jokes. Throughout the week we’d all text each other, weren’t polite, yelled at each other, just because it’s easier to do that, then send each other nice, polite, drawn out e-mails. We might have been unorthodox in our planning, but I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. And I wouldn’t have wanted to work with a better group of people.
All I can say, is next years will be a million times smoother, and yes, there will be another one next year.

I’m in the process of sending out Thank You letter’s to everyone that donated to the event. Hopefully they will be out by the end of the week. If you contributed, and for whatever reason you didn’t get one. I really am sorry, and thank you.

It was beyond awesome how this all came together. I truly felt like the night couldn’t have gone better. Everyone that came out with a good attitude, and wanted to support a great cause. It was like a reunion in a lot of ways. There were so many people I haven’t seen in a long time, and so many people that I met for the first time, all because in some way, shape or form, Dustin has impacted their lives, or their friends lives, and they wanted to say thanks.


Everyone that donated raffle and auction items, THANK YOU! Not only was it a great way to raise money for Dustin. It was also so cool, that people that came out to support, also had the opportunity to walk away with some of the nicest prizes I’ve seen in a long time. Everyone went above and beyond that donated.


Also, thanks to our raffle ticket salespeople. Great job hustlin’ tickets to make money for D… Thanks to everyone for their generosity buying tickets.
Everyone that helped work before, during, and after the event, thank you! You truly showed what it means to volunteer. Most of you paid for tickets, and didn’t think twice about wanting to help work during the event. That is truly selfless.


We were beyond lucky to know all of the people that we knew. We needed tables, a tent, and cooking gear. Aaron Thompson gathered up all of his Taylor Rentals crew, and made it happen.


We needed a DJ, a good friend stepped up and was more than happy to do so. The same went with our cook, and getting t-shirts printed. Everyone from Victory was great. The entire event was great.

I’ve probably retyped this 3 times already. And every time I read over it, I feel like I leave so many things out. I feel like I can’t quite explain how last night went. And maybe that’s a good thing. You can’t really put it into words. Last night, a few hundred people came out to support someone I am lucky enough to call my best friend. I don’t care one bit about the money that was raised. I don’t care one bit that the food was amazing, or the beer tasted good. I don’t care that we auctioned off Mike Schmidt baseballs, or flat screen TV’s.


At the end of the night, Dustin had a smile on his face. He’s inspired a whole lot of people, and I’m so glad he was there the whole time. He’s the best dude I know, and I know everyone that put this on, would be more than happy to do it all over again for him.


The night was a great success, and thank you one more time for everyone that came out. Not one thing went wrong, and that in itself is a miracle (funny side note, I’ve probably looked at that t-shirt design 50 times, and showed it to Dustin, Shelby, and all of the people planning this… not one of us noticed Myers is misspelled, but seriously, if you can’t laugh at that, then you are focusing way too much on the negative)… So if that’s the worst thing that happens at a fundraiser for Dustin, I think we are on the right path…


If you want to donate to Dustin, please do so by sending a check to his Mom’s house where he is staying. Checks can be made payable to The Friends of Dustin J Myers. The address is 108 Church Rd. Malvern, Pa 19355.


I’ll have pictures of the event up on here soon. And at some point a video.


*And for everyone that is curious. All of your donations, ticket sales, silent auction winnings, and raffle tickets, helped to raise almost $23,000 for Dustin! Your generosity is incredible. And Dustin is lucky to have such amazing people in his life.

Other stuff you can buy tomorrow.

Wine - $3 a glass.

T-Shirts - $15. Only 100 available.

Just a heads up

Beef and Beer

APRIL 10th - 6pm-10pm.

West Chester Helicopter Museum. <--- Click the link for directions.

Make sure you come out prepared! Below is a list of auction and raffle items we have. It's not definitive, but pretty darn close. We will add a few more by the event. Make sure to bring cash for the raffle, and a checkbook for the silent auctions! PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD

RAFFLE ITEMS

1. Snowboard with Yuengling Logo

2. Bernie Parent Hockey Figurine with Autographed Picture

3. Bare Minerals Make-Up Kit

4. Merrill Reese – Voice of the Eagles “It’s Gooooood!” Autographed Book, CD and

Autographed Picture

5. Phillies Gift Certificate - Good towards the purchase of Phillies Tickets or Merchandise at the Majestic Team and Alley Stores

6. Autographed Elton Brand Mini Basketball and Autographed Lou Williams Jersey

7. Handmade, one of a kind, necklace with reversible pendant on sterling silver neck wire

8. Allure Medi-Spa Gift Certificate for a classic European Facial

9. Jack La Lanne’s Power Juicer

10. Health Master Blender by Montel Williams

11. Air Climber System Exercise Stepper

12. Health Master Blender by Montel Williams

13. Jack La Lanne’s Power Juicer

14. Jack La Lanne’s Power Juicer

15. Jack La Lanne’s Power Juicer

16. Air Climber System Exercise Stepper

17. Air Climber System Exercise Stepper

18. Air Climber System Exercise Stepper

19. Mer Soleil Chardonnay – Magnum

20. 2007 Ridge Vineyards “Lytton Springs” Dry Creek Zinfandel - Magnum

21. Bare Minerals Make-Up Kit

22. Autographed Scott Hartnell Flyers Hockey Puck

23. French Scenes on Slate

24. Gift Certificate to Harry the K’s Broadcast Bar and Grill at Citizens Bank Park, Phillies

Hat, and 2009 World Series Mug

25. Jersey Boys Poster signed by Broadway Cast and Original Soundtrack

26. Cole Hamels Autographed Phillies Baseball Hat

27. Champagne Brunch at The Radnor Hotel - Voted best of the Main Line 2009

28. Creed’s Seafood and Steaks Gift Certificate for Lunch – King of Prussia, PA

29. Creed’s Seafood and Steaks Gift Certificate for Lunch – King of Prussia, PA

30. Anthony’s Pizza and Italian Restaurant Gift Certificate – Malvern, PA

31. Pietro’s Prime Steakhouse and Martini Bar Gift Certificate – West Chester, PA

32. Nonna’s Gift Certificate – West Chester, PA

33. Flannigan’s Boathouse Gift Certificate – Malvern, PA

34. Ram’s Head Bar and Grill Gift Certificate – West Chester, PA

35. Philadelphia Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals - 2 Tickets – May 4, 2010

36. Charlie Manuel Autographed Baseball

37. VW “Fast” and Autographed Guitar by the Smithereens

SILENT AUCTIONS

1. Spa Finder Gift Certificate - Accepted by Antoinette Day Spa, Toppers Spa, Avante and many others

2. Haddon Rocking Horse

3. Limoncello Gift Certificate – West Chester, PA

4. Total Gym – To be delivered by Total Gym

5. Trader Joe’s Gift Basket

6. Richard Bollinger signed and numbered print “Light of the World”

7. Richard Bollinger signed and numbered print “A New Song”

8. Panasonic 32” HDTV

9. Custom Fishing Rod with Thread Art

10. WYSP Bundle

11. Health Master Blender by Montel Williams

12. Jack La Lanne’s Power Juicer

13. Air Climber System Exercise Stepper

14. Gourmet Sweets Basket

15. Donovan McNabb Autographed Photo with Certificate Of Authenticity

16. Ryan Howard Autographed Baseball with Certificate of Authenticity

17. Mike Schmidt Autographed Baseball with Certificate of Authenticity

18. Garden Basket - A fun mix of gardening essentials

19. Cinco de Mayo Celebration Basket - Makings for a fun Fiesta, including Margaritas!

20. Reggie Leach Autographed Flyers Hockey Puck

21. Kitchen Basket - Including “The Dirty Old Ladies” Cookbook and “The Oprah”

Cookbook

22. Food Basket from Waterloo Gardens

23. Philadelphia Phillies vs. Florida Marlins - 4 Tickets – April 16, 2010

24. Spa Gift Basket - Including gift certificate for manicure and pedicure

25. Original Mosaic Art by Billie Myers

26. Bernie Parent Autographed Philadelphia Flyers Hockey Mask

27. Bernie Parent Autographed Philadelphia Flyers Hockey Jersey

28. Salon Basket

29. Framed Autographed Picture of Brad Lidge

30. Framed Autographed Picture of Sheldon Brown

31. Autographed Skateboard by the Cast of the Upcoming “Jackass 3” Movie

32. IPod Nano

33. Philadelphia Phillies vs. Florida Marlins - Friday April 16^th - 2 Tickets, Premium Seats,

Pre-game tour of Phillies Radio Broadcast Booth, and Signed Copy of Chris

Wheeler’s Book

34. A Round of Golf for 3 at Overbrook Country Club

35. A Free Oil Change and Tire Rotation and Lifetime Free Inspections for that car at Garnet Volkswagon