Brian and Margaret's Burger and Beer Night - a Huge Success!!!

Submitted by Brian Benson

I simply don't know where to begin. Our fundraising Burger and Beer night on June 4th far exceeded our expectations. We want to say a big thank you to our many friends, family and supporters who came and joined us. We'd also like to thank those who bought tickets and made donations towards our night even though they could not attend.

Brian and Margaret Benson with their tandem bike-->

I must also say I had very little to do with the organization of the event. One day a number of weeks ago Margaret said "Let's do a Burger and Beer Night Fundraiser".

<--Margaret 

 Before I had time to say anything, I think it was a done deal. She took the bull by the horns, secured the location, got multiple door and raffle prizes, silent and live auction items and the list goes on. I put up a poster at my office and sent out a few emails.....that's about it for my efforts.

Courtney and Margaret. Courtney is the mother of Hanna, a little girl with CF. Margaret is riding for her. Margaret, who has CF herself, is also riding in memory of Isabelle Tonolli, mentioned in Margaret's bio. Click  on Margaret's name for details, and for her own remarkable story.-->

The one thing I did was blow up balloons for the balloon pop. At $10 a balloon I was hoping we'd sell at least half of the 30 I blew up. Within 10 minutes of people arriving they all sold. We should have done 50 in honour of the 50th Anniversary of the CF Foundation but had no idea of what to expect. The silent auction went well with other patrons of the bar and staff also taking part. My niece won the toonie toss for the bottle of Vodka which was half the size of her, then my brother won the Crown Royal in the toonie toss. Go figure. I'm a little worried about the reputation my family will get given the fact you can't "rig" a toonie toss and there were lots of other people participating. Obviously I know where my Brother and his Daughter's strength's are. Toonie tosses for liquor!!!!

Then came the live auction. My neighbour in the Cariboo was interested in the Corona Cooler. He told me to bid up to $75 on it. Little did I know my Brother also wanted it. The bidding war began. Not that I'm competitive or anything but when my Brother said $40, I said $50. Back and forth it went. I thought I knew how to stop the bidding process........$110!!! But no. He goes higher. I go higher. I am simply not going to lose against my Brother on this one. He beat me up enough when we were young that losing this battle was not an option. The noise from the crowd kept getting louder and louder. Next thing you know......we are over $200!!!! By the time it hit $276 my Brother held my arms down so I could no longer bid him up higher.


Needless to say there was some serious laughter coming from the crowd by this time. "The Battle of the Benson Boys" was over. He won. All in good fun as you know with the funds going to such an amazing cause.

<--The Benson Boys - Craig and Brian

Now here's the clincher.  He "forgot" his cheque book. And asked me if I could spot him the money. And now he has the cooler. I paid his debt. I always tell people he is smarter than I am......this reinforced my belief. Whether or not he ever pays me back is not my concern. Over the years he has been tremendously generous in his donations and support of CF. He jump started our fund raising efforts for GearUp4CF with a substantial donation. If I never see his money for the cooler it's OK. With the funds going to CF I'll consider it one small way of thanking him for supporting Margaret, myself and CF.  Thanks Craig.

I think everyone enjoyed our humble fund raiser and when we totaled the money we simply could not believe it. We are delighted to say over $4000 was raised, bringing our Grand Total to over $8700!!! Thank you everyone.

- Brian 

Would you like to sponsor a favorite rider? Click on their name anywhere on this journal to open their "bio" on the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation GearUp4CF web site, click on the button "Sponsor this Rider", and you will join our team!