The following is a post from Kevin Neary:

On Wednesday, we were fortunate enough to receive both a new bed and new mattress that were charitably donated by Leon Ariyan, a friend and former employer of mine at Worldwide Express. The mattress arrived two days earlier than expected, conveniently about a half an hour after the new bed was professionally assembled. Since I arrived home from Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in February 2012, I utilized a donated air mattress that was better and safer than the mattress I came home to. The model was discontinued and we were unable to have the mattress serviced when it needed repairs. Also, our old bed was definitely in need of an upgrade.

The new bed and mattress are for sure welcomed additions to my living arrangement, improving my quality of life significantly. Both the new bed and mattress are much quieter, more comfortable, easier for the nurses to operate, and more modern additions to my living area. As you can imagine, anything that is medical carries a significant level of investment, so these donations are quite a generous gesture.

For those of you who do not know Leon, as previously mentioned, not only did he his business partner hire me to my first sales position, he quickly became a friend. His outgoing personality is an attribute that enabled me to learn and reinforce sales techniques and habits that contributed to my professional successes. Through thick and thin, Leon has proven to be someone whose counsel and generosity have meant a ton to me. You may have met him at last year’s golf outing and noted his infectious personality.

In addition to these donations, Leon has contributed in other ways to my well-being, including golf threesomes to the prestigious Plainfield Country Club golf course in central New Jersey, that have generated a lot of interest and money on my behalf. I cannot thank him enough for his continued support and friendship. Thank you Leon for constantly being there, willing to do whatever you can on my behalf.

On Monday, we held our fourth annual FOKN Golf Tournament, which couldn’t have gone better — thanks to the amazing work of some dedicated family and friends. We’ll thank them in a minute, but we really wanted to put in perspective how much this tournament means for Kevin and the Neary family.

Some of you may be aware that Kevin is able to hire home health aides for part of the week to assist in his care. This is a game-changer for Kevin and Joe Neary. They help Kevin get ready for the day and be more independent.

But these home health aides aren’t covered by insurance, and their time and work is valuable. On average, home health aides cost about $25,000 per year.

So how does this tie back to the golf tournament? This year, we were able to raise about $25,000. In one day (and a lot of prep work by volunteers), you helped cover the cost of Kevin’s care.

That’s why it goes without saying that we’re incredibly grateful – to the organizers, volunteers, donors, golfers and bidders. It is truly amazing and humbling to get this level of support.

The day was capped off by a really fun live auction emceed by Brian Startare, Philadelphia sports personality and long-time friend of Kevin’s. This year he led a really entertaining live auction that resulted in some generous bids!

And of course, there are so many volunteers that make the day run smoothly.

It’s such a great event, and we’re so grateful. We’ve included some photos showing some of the day’s highlights. Hope you can join us next year!

Great auction skills by our emcee, Brian Startare.

Golfers getting ready to hit the course!

Bill Burland, golf organizer extraordinaire!

Just a few of the tremendous auction items.

A few of our awesome volunteers who kept everything running smoothly!

A gorgeous day on the course – could not have asked for better weather. See you again next year!

We are thrilled to share with you our program for the FOKN Golf Tournament on September 12th! If you’re attending the tournament, click here to take a look. Lots of really great items that you will want to check out so you can plan your bidding. We are so grateful to our host committee and the many donors for putting together such an amazing set of items.

There could be a change or two between now and then, but this gives a great sense of what an exciting day we have in store.

Please join us in thanking all of our generous supporters! We are sold out of golfing spots, which is a testament to the amazing auction items and support from our community.

For all golfers, please note what’s new this year:

• Registration closes at 8:45 a.m.! 
• Dunkin’ Donuts will be there with a sampling truck.
• We will have TWO Dixon golf challenges. For details, click here: DIXON GOLF INTRODUCTION
• A few auction items will close at 8:45 a.m.! So keep an eye out for those.
• With such a full house, and our new staggered bidding, we anticipate some fierce bidding.  Bid early, bid often!

JOINING US FOR LUNCH ONLY?

• Please plan to arrive by 1 PM
• Review the program before you arrive — bidding is always a fun part of this event

NOT ATTENDING, AND WANT TO SUPPORT THE EVENT?

The site is closed for golfers; it is still open for sponsors and donations. You can support the event by clicking here.

Thanks again, and looking forward to seeing folks on 9/12!

SOLD OUT!

Some great news to report! We are SOLD OUT for the September 12 golf tournament, with thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Kevin’s champion Bill Burland.

Our thanks to Bill, and to our community, for this incredible support for Kevin.

The site remains open for those who wish to sponsor the event, purchase lunch tickets, and make donations. Click here if you’re interested in any of those options.

Golfers and non-golfers alike are in for a great day. We’ll post a program just before the event, so keep an eye out so you can plan your bids!

WHY are all of these people being thanked for gifts to the September 12 FOKN golf tournament?

(And this doesn’t even include our committee, our event sponsors, and many more generous donors.)

Check out this list, and join us in thanking them:

Alliance Marketing and Kristi Crocker

Leon Ariyan

Baltimore Ravens

Bassetts Ice Cream and Michael Strange

Gloria Baladez and Friends of QVC

Brandywine River Museum of Art and Kathleen Barkasy

Brigantessa

Car-Mira’s Deli

Century Club of San Diego and Juliane Alarcio and Peter Ripa

Chaddsford Winery

Cheesecake Factory and Denise Vivolo

Chipotle Turner Square, West Chester

Christiana Mall

Cinemark

CNN and John Robinson

Concordville Inn and Steve Angeline

Courtyard Baltimore Downtown and Patrick McManus

DAS (Dynamic Advertising Solutions) and Joe LaRose

Delaware Theatre Company

Rich and Sherri Dickert

Dixon Golf and Rob McClarty

Fado and Chelsea McNett

Golf Digest

Golf Galaxy

Golfsmith and Elizabeth Durham

Herrs Snacks and Maryann Tice

Honda Classic and Dana Johnson

J&J Snacks and Kristyn Castellante

Johnnie-O and Kim Rohm

Le Virtu

Marianne Kaplan

Kramer Portraits and Wendy Richards

Late Night with Seth Meyers and Kyle O’Donnell

The Late Show

Le Virtu

LIDS Christiana Mall

Lone Star

Longwood Gardens and Monica Staszesky

Joe Lunardi

Joe and Renee McGillian

Mendenhall Inn and Victoria Harris

Merion Golf Club and Harry Hill

Morgan’s Pier

National Constitution Center

Panera Bread

Ralph Papa

The Philadelphia Eagles and Tracy Foster

The Philadelphia Phillies and Kelly Yurgin

Philadelphia Theatre Company and Sara Garonzik

Beth Pelkofksy

Mike Pierce and Pierce and Hughes

RBC Heritage and Chris LoBello

Ricola and Jo Ann Kisielewski

Colleen Rush

Salesianum School and Brendan Kennealey and Nancy Meier

Laurie and Steve Schwalb

Shipyard Brewing and Fred Chapman

Sony Open and Rhonda Funn

Splendies and Anthony Coombs

Brian Startare

Sullivans and Bill White

Jan Tate

The Golf Warehouse and Tammy Smith

Colleen and Michelle Thomas

Tiger Woods Foundation and Danny Callahan

U.S. Naval Academy, Chet Gladchuk and Pat Phillips

Walnut Street Theatre and Melissa Leigh Hoke

Wawa and Jim Shorthall

Wells Fargo and Kristen Miller

Wendys and Elena Kurza

Will BYOB

The Wilma Theatre and Catherine Perez

Wilmington Blue Rocks and Kevin Linton

WIP, Maria Donahue and Cindy Webster

Wyncote Golf Club

Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District

Yards Brewing

Zavino

—–

What did these fine people donate?

You will have to be there on September 12 to see (and we’ll post a program just prior to the event).

There are still spots available to golf, but they are going fast:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fokn-golfin-2016-tickets-20936743363

Dunkin Donut and WAWA in the house for our 2017 golf tourney!

Don’t have tickets yet for the September 12 event?

No time like the present…….

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fokn-golfin-2016-tickets-20936743363

We will have some of the “same” wonderful things we’ve had before…a fantastic emcee, a wonderful course, great raffle, silent and live auction items.

And our guest of honor, Kevin Neary, will be in attendance!

We’ve talked about some of our AMAZING auction items here:

https://kevinneary.com/2016/06/27/a-neary-wedding-and-some-amazing-golf-auction-items/

and here:

https://kevinneary.com/2016/03/12/fore-and-four/

But there’s more!

What is new this year?

• Registration will start at 7:15 and will close at 8:45!
• Alliance Marketing and Dunkin Donuts, who have been BIG supporters for each event, have upped their considerable game and are giving EVEN MORE!  The Dunkin Donuts sampling truck will be out front of Wyncote during registration!  (DD will send a gift basket, too, and will donate coupons to the golfer swag bags)
• WAWA is sending SEVERAL gift baskets!  (They will also donate coupons to the golfer swag bags)
• We’ll have some timed auction items….some items will close as early as 8:45! (Early warning that one of the WAWA baskets will be in that early close group.)
• We’ll have timed closing on more of our auction events!
• Wonderful new items continue to arrive….including fantastic gift baskets, Philly sports items, amazing golf gifts, two VIP tickets to THE LATE SHOW procured by Kevin Neary, a Philly hotel stay, Philly theatre tickets, and so much more……….
• Check back for a draft program here just prior to the event!

So grateful, as always, for the generosity and support of so many in bringing this event to fruition—including St. John Fisher Parish, which once again included a blurb about the event in their parish bulletin!

Kevin and all of us are so grateful.

The Nearyweds! 

Before we get to some truly amazing golf tournament auction items donated by some generous individuals, we wanted to take a moment to update you on one of the big recent outings for Kevin: his older brother Joe’s wedding to Olivia Cotton over Memorial Day weekend at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

The wedding was a great time and took place in a stunning venue. Kevin shared co-best man duties with his brother Chris, and they were both thrilled to welcome their new sister Olivia into the Neary family.

Some great photos are below — courtesy of Laura Neary — featuring the whole Neary clan (including Lindsey and Kathy) as well as a cameo by Ben Franklin himself with the newlyweds.

 

Some amazing auction items – you’ll want to check these out!

As the end of June nears, an update on the September 12 golf tournament.

If you already have your tickets, thank you.  Read on.

(If not, there is no time like the present…)

What’s new for the big day?

Let’s look at a few of the items we have in mind for our live auction:

 –Basketball Broadcast with ESPN Bracketologist and Saint Joseph’s University Broadcaster Joe Lunardi

Many of you know that March means Madness and the nation hangs on every word coming out of the College basketball world. The lucky high bidder will be vying for a unique opportunity to spend some quality time with the guru of NCAA Basketball Selection Sunday, ESPN’s Bracketologist Joe Lunardi. The package includes a game ticket to a mutually agreeable Saint Joseph’s University home basketball game during the 2016-17 season, the opportunity to participate/observe the pregame preparation in anticipation of a Saint Joseph’s University Hawks basketball broadcast, a prime seat adjacent to or on press row (depending on game) and one on one time with the Bracketologist himself. Joe will be broadcasting the Hawks game and you will be right in the middle of the action!  Joe is known across the sports world as the “go to guy” for who’s in and who’s out for the Big Dance. This is a unique opportunity for any college basketball fan. There may be a surprise addition or two depending on the game and the time of year but you will have to bid and win to find out!

–Golf threesome at the exclusive MERION Golf Club, host of the 2013 U.S. Open.  Mutually agreeable dates to be arranged.

–Golf threesome at the exclusive PLAINFIELD Country Club, home of the 2015 Barclays.  Mutually agreeable dates to be arranged.  (This item swooped up in advance by an interested bidder — and the donor offered a second threesome for our September tourney!)

–Philadelphia Eagles package

Once again, the Philadelphia Eagles will donate a package including game tickets, pregame field passes, parking and a jersey.   It is ALWAYS a crowd favorite, for good reason!

These are some ONCE IN A LIFETIME events! Consider golfing, then doing your holiday shopping a little early this year!

Is that all that is new?  Of course not!

We have a one week Orlando (Disney) condo stay for mutually agreeable dates….all you need to bring is your suntan lotion and your swim towels.

Like watching golf somewhere warm in the winter? We have passes to both:

• The January 9 – 15 Sony Open in Honolulu
• The January 26 – 29 Farmers Tourney in San Diego

Like other sports, too?  The Phillies are working on something for us, and the Wilmington Blue Rocks will donate a first pitch package.  And our hosts at Wyncote will donate a foursome!

Like hearing about sports?   Bid on the chance to sit in with Mike and Ike!

Is that all we will have?   Of course not; there will be so much more!   Some exciting items are in the pipeline…

We will post a draft program here just prior to the tournament, and hoped this sneak peek would be of interest.

Tickets are available here!

As you all may know, JP, Kevin, and Chris attended Salesianum School in Wilmington, Delaware.  The entire Salesian community has helped us through so much and we are incredibly thankful for that.

We would like to do our small part by getting the word out about their upcoming fundraiser, For the Boys, which is now a ten year tradition! Please take a moment to check out the event at http://www.salesianum.org/4TB.

Salesianum for the Boys 2016

In other news, Kevin is doing well and is looking forward to JP’s wedding in May, the start of baseball season, and the warmer weather that comes along with it.  He is also looking forward to seeing everyone at the FOKN Golf Outing in September. Here is the link for more details: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fokn-golfin-2016-tickets-20936743363

 

What will you be doing six months from today? We have you covered!

We are proud to announce our fourth annual golf tournament to benefit Kevin — it will be held on September 12, 2016, at Wyncote Golf Club.

For details, and to purchase event sponsorships, hole signs, and tickets to play and/or to have lunch, click here.

How lucky are we? Six months out, and…

• Brian Startare is back as emcee (and if you twist his arm, he MIGHT talk to you about Philadelphia sports)!
• Bill Burland is back hard at work wrangling golfers.
• A committee is at work, putting together what promises to be a great event.
• We already have 14 golfers, and three sponsors, registered.

A sneak peek at some auction items already in:

• A gift from the Philadelphia EAGLES (details to be revealed!)
• A $500 gift card from the incredible Sullivan’s Steakhouse
• A threesome and lunch at the exclusive Plainfield Country Club (home of the Barclays),
• Passes to the January 26 – 29, 2017 FARMERS Insurance Open in San Diego
• A gift from the Wilmington Blue Rocks
• A sit in for two with WIP’s Angelo Cataldi Morning show
• Bassetts Ice Cream, Chadds Ford Winery, Cinemark, Christiana Mall, GOLFSMITH, Longwood Gardens J&J Snacks, Johnny-O, Ricola, Salesianum, Splendies and WAWA have already promised to participate….and there will be so much more!

You don’t want to miss this event.

We’ve sold out each year….so buy now, and beat the last minute panic.

As always, all proceeds go to Kevin Neary’s special needs trust, to help him with his continued medical expenses.

Spread the word! We would be so grateful for your help in spreading the word about the tournament.  Tell your friends, tell their friends…

Don’t golf?  Consider coming for the lunch and program.

Have ideas to make this event better?   We’re listening — contact Chris and Denise at nearys51@comcast.net