The Boston Tech community has stepped up big and is providing the leadership necessary to kick off our $100M campaign for Tech Tackles Cancer. Your generosity in support of finding a cure for kids cancer through support of St. Baldrick’s, we raised more than $500k, is legend. I want to tell you all how proud I am to know you and say thanks to each and every individual who helped make our 5th annual St. Baldrick’s event at The Landsdowne Pub, such great success and a rocking good time!
Once again, our event had over 500 people: shavees, volunteers, sponsors, Patriots, Celtics, start-up folks, raffle items galore, the great Savtones featuring Chris Cote (who crushed Yellowcard playing down the street). When all is said and done the total to St. Baldricks is over $505k with donations still coming in — we met and exceeded our ambitious goal!
Nationally, St. Baldrick’s is the single largest investor in pediatric cancer research next to the U.S. Government. Unfortunately, every 2 minutes a child is diagnosed with this terrible disease, and it kills more children in the U.S. than all other major diseases combined. Kids cancer is very different from adult cancers and hence requires specific research. Eighty percent of children with cancer have had it spread before being diagnosed and for those who survive 70% have shorter life spans marred with chronic health issues. In spite of these facts, only 4% of US Federal funding is solely focused on children’s cancer research. Further, 60% of adult cancer research funding comes from big pharmaceutical companies, with almost none for childhood cancer research because these drugs are not profitable. This is why we need St. Baldrick’s; 100% of their grant’s go to children’s cancer research, and not to one institution, but to the best and brightest researchers around the world-this is a different and winning strategy.
An event of this magnitude takes a lot of work behind the scenes, so I would like to give a special thanks to the committee responsible for organizing our St. Baldrick’s event. My first thanks is to Ben Hux, Volunteer Event Organizer, and Cort Johnson, Mayor of Tech Boston and hack/secure fame, who have stuck by me to make this happen. My goal is for this event is for it to be a Boston legacy we leave the next generation of entrepreneurs, serving to give us perspective, inspiration, strength, and unity.
Thanks also to Accomplice, Matt Burke, Cynthia Ferranzzani, Will Brierly, Lauren Wedell, Josh Terry, Josh Darling, Brittany Vogel, Boston Celtics Dancers, Patriots Cheerleaders, JLL, DLT, City National Bank, The Savtones, Galen Moore and Kyle Gross of BostInno, and Keith Cline of Venture Fizz for support of the event. Without these people and their assistance, this event would not have succeeded. Thanks to Em Vision films for producing the video to promote the event; and to photographer Winslow Martin and videographer Rosemary Jeneth for documenting the event. I also want to thank the Lyon’s Group, for hosting the event and all of the shavees, stylists, volunteers, and raffle items donors.
The generosity of Boston and the surrounding areas is incredible. I am very fortunate to have people like Mike Egan, Jit Saxena, Art Coviello and Jeff Fagnan in my corner. The sacrifice of the shavees alone is unbelievable. I thank them for their commitment to such a deserving cause.
The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation does this with the guiding principles of integrity, efficiency, transparency, a pioneering spirit and a sense of fun. It’s never too late to donate, I’ll keep the link live.