Thank you!

First, a note of clarification. I had thought that our GiveForward fundraiser was to expire at the end of the day today. Instead, it expired at the beginning of the day. So unfortunately, donations can no longer be made through that site. HOWEVER, it is definitely not to late to send in your contribution to the Chuck 300 fundraiser. Checks can still be made out to

Charles Pappas Supplemental Needs Trust

And they can be mailed to:

Charles & Jennifer Pappas
183 Mill Road
Chelmsford, MA 01824

While I will next be talking about the great success of our fundraiser overall, Chuck and Jen still need our support, and will continue to need our support for a long time. It is a tragic reality that getting sick in our society is enormously expensive, and the cost of adequate medical treatment for a serious illness is far beyond the means of most Americans. Let's not forget about Chuck and Jen in the days, months and years to come. Your love, your letters, your phone calls, your shoulders to lean on, and your generosity have been a light in their lives; please keep that alive.

With that preamble, I want to let everyone know that our GiveForward fundraiser was a smashing success. As of midnight last night, our total was $12,539! That is an extraordinary sum, and it could not have happened without the amazing generosity of so many people, including more than a hundred people who made donations of $50 or less. It really did add up!

We also had a LOT of people who donated $100, which really pushed the meter forward. In no particular order, I'd like to recognize those people. (Please note that the donation tranactions were usually completed by one person, but in many cases, that person was giving on behalf of a couple. When possible, I have tried to include the name of the spouse/partner):


John Martinson and Mary Day
Megan Daoust
Ari Solomon
Gail Martinson and Chuck Hodge
Dena Miller
Maya Gottfried
David Benzaquen
Ruth Santana
Celeste Donovan
Mariann Sullivan and Jasmin Singer
Debrah Schnackenberg
Michelle Waffner
Patricia Benton and Steve Stratton
Michael Frank
Nicola Leske
Stephanie Strangis
Amy Quinn
Nile Butta
Kendra Coppey
Molly Alissa Glen
Shannon Lynch
John M Mulcahy
Sean Owen
Anna Paternoster
Don Walker
Joan Gusic
Chelsea Peoples
Gene Baur
Mike and Melissa Reed
And more than one Anonymous

Next, we had ten extremely generous donations between $100 and $499:


Ian and Tricia Barry
Bradley Goldberg
Barb and Greg Lomow
JB Mulcahy and Diana Goodrich
Erin Howard
Jeannette Sepulveda
Monica Jain
Diane Miller
Kevin Hoffman
Penny and Gary Smith

Finally, I'd like to give special recognition to our six biggest donors, all of whom gave $500 or more.

Rory Freedman is one celebrity who is an amazing source of inspiration in the public eye, having co-written the revolutionary Skinny Bitch series of books, a series whose impact on the way people eat can not be overstated. But what really impresses me about Rory is how humble and genuine she is, even after selling millions of books. When I first started posting information about the Chuck 300 on Facebook, Rory was one of the first people to really push the story out there. She challenged her Facebook friends to donate $500 to Chuck, and then she matched that collective donation to generate $1,000 total. It was our first big break, and I remain incredibly grateful. I am a fan of Rory for life.

Amy Spagnole is an intellectual property rights attorney who attended middle school with Chuck. And while they had not been in contact for years, Amy clearly remembered Chuck as an amazing guy (who doesn't?) and was touched by his story. Her generous contribution was a truly heart warming surprise for Chuck and for all of us.

Scott James worked with Chuck and Jen at Lesley University when they all lived in the Boston area. Like Amy, he has not been in close contact with the them since their paths diverged years ago, but also like Amy, he is obviously someone whose charitable spirit transcends time and proximity.


Hugh and Terri Norwood... Where do I begin? As I wrote shortly after our Chuck 300 team spent the night at their home in Maryland, the depth of their support and the hospitality they showed to us was just amazing. I can't thank them enough, but I'll continue to try.



And finally, Dan D’Eramo and Jessica Parry are friends and former colleagues who worked closely with Chuck on Farm Sanctuary's Watkins Glen shelter. Dan was with Chuck last summer when the two of them spent three grueling weeks rescuing factory farm pigs from severe flooding in Iowa. And when all those pigs and piglets came home to Farm Sanctuary, Dan and Jess dedicated tireless hours of round-the-clock care to making sure their charges got everything they needed to recover fully. They brought that same level of dedication to their jobs every day, and their presence at the Farm is sorely missed now that they have moved on. But while they now live far away, their compassion continues to shine through. Their donation in the final hour of our fundraiser put us over the 50% mark and allowed us to finish with one hell of a bang. Dan and Jess, you guys rock!


I have a million other people to thank, and many people listed above to thank again, for support provided outside the confines of the GiveForward fundraiser itself, and those acknowledgements will take me a bit longer to compile. But I wanted to at least have the thanks above posted today, to mark the end of the fundraiser. To all of you who pulled out your wallets in the spirit of love, kindness and compassion, know that you have participated in something beautiful. I know that Chuck and Jen and their family, are extremely grateful to you.