2016 Cystic Fibrosis LIF ( Raffling off 19 boxes )

Hello everyone. My name is Ray and I have run a LIF for Cystic Fibrosis for the last 2 years. This LIF has grow greatly over the past two years and this will be the third installment. We are working to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation who works to find a cure for CF and helps support individuals with CF. A small example of how they help is by providing FREE enzymes (this can be very expensive) and vitamins for the first two years for patient's with CF. You may not know much about CF so I would like to share a bit about it.

There are only 30,000 people living with CF and it is a very rare genetic disease. In order to be born with it your mother and father have to care the CF gene (there are several variants on the gene) and if you are born with both genes from both parents you have CF. This is a 25% chance if both parents carry the gene. CF effects the lungs and GI system. The easiest way to explain it is that in peoples lungs and pancreas (the organ that secretes the enzymes that digest our food so we can absorb the nutrients our bodies need to grow) there is a slippery substance. When we breath in dust or other junk from the air this slippery substance allows us to cough it out so it does not harm us or cause an infection. In people with CF this substance is sticky and traps the dust and other junk in the lungs making it susceptible to infection. As for the pancreas the sticky substance blocks it up and doesn't allow food to be properly absorbed. So the enzymes are vital to helping babies grow at a normal rate which better protects them from future lung infections.

I have two children with CF. My daughter McKenna (2 1/2 years old) and son Hendrick (7 months old). They are amazing kids and we really enjoy the heck out of them! I am not going to go into the personal finances our family deals with to assure the kids get the enzymes, breathing treatments and medical equipment necessary to do the daily maintenance necessary to battle this condition. I also encourage everyone that reads this not to feel sorry for my family or these amazing children. That will not help anything. As parents, my wife and I work very hard to give these kids the strength to face their challenges head on and not feel sorry for themselves but rather embrace the challenges life gives them and fight on. So far so good but my daughter and my son really have no idea the are any different from anyone else.

What WILL help is donations to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to help finance their work towards a cure. A quick google search can show you some of the amazing progress that has come about in the last few decades. In the early 80's this condition gave patient's a life expectancy not far past being a toddler. Today it is into the late 40's with advances in treatment coming every day! The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is also highly ranked when you research their numbers in terms of the amount of your donation that goes towards research and resources while some other foundations give most of that money to the people running the business. Any donation given is also a tax right off and in many cases your employer will match your donation. For assistance with this please feel free to contact me and I will help.

So, let's get to the fun part. The boxes of awesome beer being sent out by some of the most generous people I have come to know! My box this year will be another Jackie O's box. I will add to it until the LIF has ended and update as more bottles are added. IF you would like to donate a box to this LIF please BM me so I can organize things. Last year we had 17 boxes sent out. In many cases people live close and can save costs on shipping by adding their bottle to a box rather than shipping separately.

Rules for the LIF! It is pretty simple, for every $10 you donate you get a ticket in the drawing.

Drawing will take place the week of May 22nd. We are having a walk locally with pizza and drinks at the house afterwards. Anyone who is local to the Cleveland area is more than welcome to sign up as a walker and join in the walk and/or stop by the house after for pizza and a drink. BM me for details.

Please do not mention anything about a raffle or beer on the donation page. Place your BA name in the comment section and I can track your donation from there!

You can donate here: http://fightcf.cff.org/site/TR/Grea...o_Cleveland?px=1806631&pg=personal&fr_id=4810

If you want to post this on your social media, text your friends, email your family or snail mail grandma and grandpa their donations can earn you more tickets if they include your BA name. Along the same lines if your company matches your donation extra tickets are earned.

I will round up any donation over $10, so $15 will get you 2 tickets, $23 will get you 3 tickets, ect. We are working this year to break the records set the past two years and I know with everyone's help we can do that! We have additional raffles and efforts outside of this that will help add to the total number earned for this years walk!

Box 1 (donated by me) Jackie O's Box
I will try to include any bottles from brewery only bottle releases between now and May 22nd!
Bourbon Barrel Dark Apparition (2016)
Vanilla and Coffee Bean Dark Apparition (2016)
Bourbon Barrel Vanilla and Coffee Bean Dark Apparition (2016)
Lanthrone (2016)
*basically any brewery only release in the next 3 months will be added to this box

Box 2 (donated by me) Local Love
This box will include a lot of local shelf and brewery only beers. Not sure exactly what but will try to hit wants and include some of my favorites including...
Willoughby Brewing Nutsmasher
Willoughby Brewing Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter (Crowler)
White rajah
Something from Fatheads
Something from Jackie O's
*will continue to update as bottles are added

I would like to thank everyone for your support. The generosity shown by this community for this cause and so many other causes throughout the year has been amazing. It is a continuous reminder of how awesome the people here are!

 

Wow...you guys are blowing the lid off this bad boy early! I will respond to everyone as quickly as I am able and continue to help organize boxes. Thanks everyone!