Chain Don't Break: Mason Bloom Charity Fundraiser (02/20/2021)

[ChrisWoj]

Good morning DGCR Community.

A member of the Rocket Disc Golf team here at the University of Toledo is going through a tough time. Mason Bloom, a member of the team that beat cancer into submission once before, is dealing with a pretty rough relapse scenario. The cancer was found in his leg in high school, and after chemo didn't work he lost a leg to it. This past fall some was found on his lung and removed. And just this weekend we found out that he had more found in his neck, which he's going to go through chemo to attempt to fight off.

Needless to say - he and his family are going through hard times with this.

The Rocket Disc Golf team is planning on hosting a flex-start fundraiser for him on February 20, 2021 to attempt to raise funds for his fight. Any form of contribution would be amazing. We would like as many CTPs on the course as possible, and will also be holding a form of "silent auction" (minimal contact in CoVid season: boxes in front of the items, people slip their bid into the box, highest bids contacted later). PM me or respond here with contact info if you're interested in donating any prizes.

We would also accept monetary donations to rocketdiscgolf at gmail dot com via PayPal, with a note that the money is for Mason Bloom.

Information for the fundraiser event: https://www.discgolfscene.com/tournaments/Chain_Dont_Break_Mason_Bloom_Charity_Drive_2021
100% of entry will go to the cancer fight.

Mason has been an absolutely incredible member of the team. A constant presence at practice. A competitor at our intercollegiate matches against Ferris State University last year. He's one of the most cheerful and upbeat people I've met. He and his high school friends, who are also team members, refer to themselves as the Chain Don't Break Disc Golf Club. And they welcome in with open arms anyone they get to know. Hence the name of the event, a reminder of the way that Mason and his buddies embrace the connections between people. We're lucky to know the guy, and want to do all we can to help out.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5CQcjMFX44/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5CRC2tFMnJ/

Attached are a couple of videos of Mason working at practice last winter. Winter work in the facility will be quite a bit less boisterous without him this spring, we hope we can welcome him back soon.

Thank you ahead of time for anything you can do to help.

 

[ChrisWoj]

A quick write-up I did for the event...

Thank you to everyone who braved the conditions at Ottawa Park today. Every single person participating was risking serious plastic just playing in that deep fluffy snow! But the Bloom family is appreciative of your support. The way that the Toledo area turned up for this event is truly incredible - it is completely beyond our ability to express how grateful we all are for this outpouring.

In the end the Chain Don't Break event raised a total of $5,595 for the Bloom Boy Strong cause! With the GoFundMe currently at $922 - we have thus far raised $6,517 with money continuing to come into the GoFundMe. $2350 came in from 94 entry fees, a clean even $1000 from raffle tickets, and $1680 came from 32 auctions! Above and beyond that - $565 was raised from people buying shirts but not playing, or simply donating cash to the cause.

Some notable auction bids.... The biggest bid went to a disc shelving unit made by RDG Vice President Mark Dembowski at $160. The ceramic coasters made by Ali King went for $150. The highest bid on a disc went to a Tour Series Luna that went for $140. And the 5th highest auction item was a 2018 Nate Sexton Firebird at $90.

15 items went in the raffle - but the big prizes were a Discraft Chainstar Lite, and a Grip G Series bag LOADED with discs. The basket went to Cameron D! Cameron is a juniors player that James Rose brought by. Folks like Kruse and Whitehead and Rose went out of their way to buy him tickets and he came away with the big prize! We would also like to congratulate Swafford on picking up the Grip G Series bag and the BEEF Package of overstable discs contained in it!

Thank you so much to the incredible donors who made all these prize packages possible... Mark Kruse, Mike Michalak, Steve Lopez, Ziggy Bierekoven, Eric Vogie, Aaron Chel, Nick Emerine, RJ Fisher, and so many more!

Finally lets get to the best scores for the day... We had prize packages for each of the top 7 finishers:
1. 50 - Ryan Rau
2. 50 - Shayne Shroyer
3. 54 - Nolan Maloney
4. 55 - Jamie Whitehead
5. 55 - Steve Lopez
6. 56 - Bob Belair
7. 56 - Casey Mingo
Congratulations to Rau for the playoff victory over Shroyer. I'm sure Shayne just didn't want to hear him whine about the snow for one more hole, or the result would have been different. And a great job to all of the competitors who managed to make it through all 19 holes - over 10% of the field didn't manage to make it the full 19. The perseverence is to be saluted.

Thank you all again for coming out and showing your support to Mason Bloom and the Bloom family in a time of need. A community coming together is something worthy of admiration and today the Toledo community truly showed what it can do.

 

[ballgolfconvert]

A quick write-up I did for the event...

Did you have a permit for the Raffle? LOL

 

[ChrisWoj]

Did you have a permit for the Raffle? LOL

Ohio annexed the region that would become Toledo in 1803. There was a whole war fought over this. A guy was stabbed.

 

[ejvogie]

Stabbed by a guy who's father was so dumb he named his second child "Two"

 

[ChrisWoj]

Hush, Four.

 

[ejvogie]

Stabbed by a guy who's father was so dumb he named his second child "Two"

whose

:doh:

Also, happy to help and I hope that our efforts can bring some sort of relief/comfort to him and the family. Hopefully they can beat that beast into remission.

 

[ChrisWoj]

whose

:doh:

Also, happy to help and I hope that our efforts can bring some sort of relief/comfort to him and the family. Hopefully they can beat that beast into remission.

Believe me - your contributions were helpful. The stuff you brought for the auction was absolutely incredible and brought in a ton. I really appreciate you coming out and getting in on being a part of the event, always happy to see you out on the course.

Some details I didn't have before... it is osteosarcoma, same as what hit his leg and caused that to need removal. They removed bits that metastasized in his lungs last fall. And right now it is developing in his neck. He's on oral chemotherapy. We don't really have an update on his condition, his next scan won't happen until April.

 

[ChrisWoj]

Thank you to anyone who supported this event. Mason and his family appreciated every dollar. Over the past 2 years Rocket Disc Golf raised over $10K to support Masons fight through this tourney and other initiatives.

Mason Bloom passed away this Monday after a long battle with osteosarcoma. RIP Mason, 1999-2022.

It was sudden for those of us less looped in. Mason was registered for a tournament in July and had played one last month, as well as joining us for a team fundraiser event. His joy and kindness will be missed.

 

[ejvogie]

Also, happy to help and I hope that our efforts can bring some sort of relief/comfort to him and the family.

Sending out more of these vibes.

 

[ejvogie]

10 large for this community is HUGE. Proud of us for the effort in spite of the conclusion.

Chris, will there be an ongoing event in the future to raise funds for research or other needs in Mason's name?

 

[ru4por]

Thank you to anyone who supported this event. Mason and his family appreciated every dollar. Over the past 2 years Rocket Disc Golf raised over $10K to support Masons fight through this tourney and other initiatives.

Mason Bloom passed away this Monday after a long battle with osteosarcoma. RIP Mason, 1999-2022.

It was sudden for those of us less looped in. Mason was registered for a tournament in July and had played one last month, as well as joining us for a team fundraiser event. His joy and kindness will be missed.

Sorry about this, Chris. You guys down there did nice stuff for the young man.

 

[jakebake91]

Man, that sucks. I'm not a praying man, but thoughts and prayers to the family. These stories always hit me hard. Always hurts to read something like this.

You guys did some absolutely amazing work raising the sums that you did. Even though the story ends tragically, you guys should feel proud of what you accomplished. It's an absolutely inspiring thing to see a community pull together like that. Especially in today's world.

Best wishes to all affected!!!

 

[ChrisWoj]

10 large for this community is HUGE. Proud of us for the effort in spite of the conclusion.

Chris, will there be an ongoing event in the future to raise funds for research or other needs in Mason's name?

There absolutely will. Chain Don't Break will continue. We will be focused next year on identifying a charity that is local to the Toledo area and supporting it in his name. All RDG discs and apparel for this next year will also memorialize Mason. As those are the team's primary fundraising opportunities, we are still in discussions about what proportion may go toward charity as well.

 

[ChrisWoj]

Man, that sucks. I'm not a praying man, but thoughts and prayers to the family. These stories always hit me hard. Always hurts to read something like this.

You guys did some absolutely amazing work raising the sums that you did. Even though the story ends tragically, you guys should feel proud of what you accomplished. It's an absolutely inspiring thing to see a community pull together like that. Especially in today's world.

Best wishes to all affected!!!

Sorry about this, Chris. You guys down there did nice stuff for the young man.

Sending out more of these vibes.

Everybody that met Mason seemed to be moved by what an amazing person he was. Hopefully we can all keep his memory in our hearts, and who he was will live on in how we are.