05/07/2021
for another successful day of Giving. $3.8 million so far and growing strong.
I remember when my lovely bride created in 2014.
I remember that over 1,000 nonprofits registered the first year.
I remember everyone’s shock and amazement when we crossed $500,000 total gifts by lunch.
I remember breaking $1,000,000 in gifts the first year !
I remember breaking $2,000,000 in gifts the second year !!
I remember staying up all night banging out tweets on twitter.
I remember the giving dual between a catholic high school and planned parenthood.
I remember learning how to improve my tweeting and watching trend nationally for the first time.
I remember trying to out tweet at 1 o’clock in the morning wondering why she was still awake at that hour.
I remember when the back-end vendor’s system crashed and KSDK loaned us a room wito operate out of ad hoc, and running the operation like an old fashioned telethon – something I learned from my mother’s days volunteering for Channel 9 telethon in the 80’s.
I remember taking my kids out of school so they could witness how absolutely awesome their mother is, so they could learn first hand what a strong woman is capable of.
I remember watching my wife.
I remember when it was time for Mary to hand over the reins to .
I remember watching run her first while still home on maternity leave. Let that sink in…
I remember watching take it across the $3mm mark the next year. I cannot begin to describe how incredibly proud of I am.
And as wonderful as all those memories are, and they are truly wonderful, I am also excited about the future of philanthropy in our town. You see, St. Louis is one of the most generous cities in the world. Not everyone knows this about us, but it is true.
And as the Earth makes another spin around the sun, and Elon is heading to Mars, I want to take a moment to acknowledge everyone – from donors, to nonprofits, to for profits, to volunteers, to financial sponsors – for making this day yet another one for the record books as it looks pretty good that we will cross the $4,000,000 mark.
Most importantly, I want to thank my beautiful wife for creating this event, because this thousand mile journey called started with her single step of stepping up and creating this marvelous endeavor from nothing more than her desire to show everyone how much we can do when we do it together.
