Wiseguy Pizza Pie Delivers - A Great Fundraiser for Bike MS!

We had a great turnout for the National MS Society fundraiser Monday night at Wiseguy Pizza Pie in Boise this week! This fundraiser exceeded my expectations, and I can't wait to do this again next year! Read all about it after the break...

First off - Ryan from Wiseguy did a great job promoting this fundraiser. Wiseguy was announcing this on social media - Facebook and Twitter the entire week leading up to the event. They also had a great sign outside their restaurant for at least 4 days leading up to Monday. I've talked to several other folks who have had fundraisers at chain restaurants - and they did not get nearly the amount of support I got from Ryan and the staff at Wiseguy. Seriously - it was great working with a LOCAL business who cares about the community.

Event Promotion at Wiseguy

Other promotions for the event included mentions on the Bike MS facebook page, and through the Meet Me Monday newsletter (more on that in a moment.) My friends at several downtown businesses posted flyers at their workplace - including Innovus Solar, Idaho Power, Drake/Cooper, Clearwater Analytics, Cradlepoint, WhiteCloud Analytics, and MetaGeek. And, as my friends can attest, I carpet-bombed my facebook page with info about the event and tweeted about it all through the weekend.

Just prior to the fundraiser, Megan and I staffed a community table at Meet Me Monday, right next door to Wiseguy Pizza. Many of you have seen me write about Meet Me Monday before, it's a great community wellness event put on every Monday by St. Alphonsus and Bandanna Running (owned by my friends and supporters, Rich and Shannon Harris).

Megan and I at Meet Me Monday

Meet Me Monday was critical for this fundraiser. I estimate over 100 folks attended Meet Me Monday that night, and many of those folks patronized Wiseguy afterwards. Shannon was great about promoting the fundraiser at Meet Me Monday the week before, and in their newsletter. The event would not have been nearly as successful without her help and support, and the generous people that I walk and run with every Monday night!

Huge crowd from Meet Me Monday

The weather was absolutely perfect on Monday for sitting out on the HUGE patio at Wiseguy. The first of my friends to arrive were, of course, the Robinson family. This was no surprise. The Robinsons are long-time friends and Bike MS supporters. Tony also participated in the golfing fundraiser over the weekend. I was happy to get to introduce them to Megan - she recognized Tony from the golf pictures and informed us that the golfing event would be mentioned on the National MS Society - Utah and Southern Idaho Chapter's Facebook page this week!

The first guests! The Robinson family - Julie, Jack, Ruby, Sophie, and Tony

The Robinsons were followed closely by Norma and Katie, and then the floodgates opened for a while! The list of friends who came out to support us include: Scott and Reed Jeide, Lance Shelton, the Schroer family, the Dorrell family, Will and Natalie Foster, Jamie Dillon, Terry Groth, and many more...The patio was packed, as was the main restaurant. This rush lasted at least 90 minutes!

A couple of members of Team WinCo showed up as well - good friend Doug Jenkins, and the "face" of Bike MS here in Idaho, Gordy Myre. Gordy bought the whole dang family out last night. Gordy is a great fundraiser himself, and has a knack for getting folks to pull out their wallet. In fact, he did it to me last night when he talked me into buying him a beer! This is probably my favorite picture from the event...

Me and Gordy

A surprise guest last night was Boise Mayor Dave Bieter. Mayor Bieter is a fairly regular attendee at Meet Me Monday. I was surprised and pleased to see him stick around for an hour or so afterwards with his friends and family for the fundraiser. And of course, he and my friend Cheryl go way back. (to Cheryl's days on the Eagle Planning and Zoning commission) I'm starting to think that if I ever need to meet someone important, to just ask Cheryl. I think she knows everybody!

Mayor Bieter, Cheryl, Megan, Me

Speaking of Cheryl, she bought her new service dog in-training, Fallon. Fallon's sure a sweet girl. My friends and I probably undid some of her training by feeding her pizza crusts and all kinds of meat toppings And by "my friends and I" - I mean "I". Cheryl was a good sport!

Cheryl and Fallon

And, I have to talk about my friends the Biermans. I've known Doug Bierman for a while, and knew that his family participates in Walk MS - but Monday night was the first time I'd met the whole family. Mike (Doug's Dad) grabbed my donation pitcher and hustled around the patio until it was full of cash. I think Mike's secret was that he was raffling off dates with my friend Le Ann! He did give Le Ann the news later in the evening...it's easier to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission, right?

My new friends the Biermans! 

So many other friends to mention...Patrice Lancourt, Le Ann Stephens, Troy Custer, Chris Nettleton...I could go on and on.

THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING, and for making the event GREAT!

So....how did we do? When all was said and done, Wiseguy donated $183 to me and Team WinCo! Also, I received $90 in the donation jar, and a $25 online donation from the event. I'll dig deep and kick in an extra $2 to make it an even $300.00 for the night! And, just as important, the event was a success for Wiseguy Pizza Pie. Ryan said "...Please do not hesitate to come to me with an event in the future." And I certainly will.

Thanks again everyone!