Friday, May 23, 2014

The Jennefit

There are some people that come into your life -some for a small period, some for much longer - that you will always remember. Jenn Berrigan is one of those people for me. I met her many, many years ago in high school, and got to know her much better after graduation. We eventually lost touch, but she will never be forgotten. Jenn died in March 2012.

Below, you will find some information from Kevin about how The Jennefit started and a little about the money raised. The next Jennefit will be August 23, 2014 at Greenfields Pub in Barrhaven (Ottawa).

If you have anything to donate in terms of prizes, or cash, please get in touch with me and I will pass your information along to Kevin.


So The Jennefit... I shall explain.

My parents best friend's daughter (Jenn Berrigan), someone I've known since she was born and consider her my little sister, was diagnosed with cervical cancer 3 years ago. A full hysterectomy was needed to attempt to remove the cancer and thus her ability to have a child was compromised. She went to an organization called Fertile Future to preserve her fertility and quickly became an advocate for them. She did a lot of public speaking and became significantly involved with the organization. As of Christmas 2011 it was declared that she had beaten the cancer. By January 15th 2012, she was diagnosed with brain cancer and sadly succumbed to it by March. Jenn was so loved by Fertile Future that they created a fund in her name called The Jenn Berrigan Memorial Fund and from that, $1000 would be awarded to a woman with cancer who preserved their fertility to help with costs. I am now chairman of that fund.

So back to The Jennefit.

I ran a Jennefit back in Oct 2011 to help with her costs of preserving her fertility and for a surrogate mother. I was so blessed to be able to raise approximately $6000 for her and I vowed to run another one. I had planned on the Jennefit 2 to help her even more but she died before that could happen. On her death bed, I made a promise to continue her legacy of helping others and keep her spirit alive so I decided that I WOULD go ahead with The Jennefit 2 and proceeds would go to The Jenn Berrigan Memorial Fund. I ran it in August 2012 and it raised $11000! It was so amazing to help that many women instead of just one!

After this, I vowed this would become a major part of my life. Since then my wife and I were blessed with a beautiful baby boy a year ago and thus I had put off running The Jennefit 3. Well, I can now. And since then I was named Chairman of The Jenn Berrigan Memorial Fund and voted onto the Board of Directors for Fertile Future. An honour higher than anything else I've been bestowed with (other than getting married and having my boy.)

The Jennefit is my event organization and promotional group that generates funds for multiple charities of our choosing. One if it's main beneficiaries is The Jenn Berrigan Memorial Fund and that is a subsidiary of Fertile Future. The three are connected but The Jennefit is not necessarily connected to The JBMF and Fertile Future as it can promote and run events for any charity.

1 comment:

  1. Oh wow, what an important initiative. You are a wonderful friend with a big heart.

    ReplyDelete

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