VetteFest and the IBCARF

As with so many good things, this happened almost by accident. Matt (our fearless leader) has a sister in Seattle who is a TV reporter. Her name is Michelle Esteban, and she recently won two daytime Emmys for a special report she did about Inflammatory Breast Cancer. This is a version of breast cancer that has some nasty twists: it won't show up on a mammogram, and it's fast-moving. It is often misdiagnosed, coming across as a spider-bite or an 'underwire problem'.

She discussed this with Matt a few months back, and he decided that with our blistering show schedule, Glassworks might be able to spread the word in some way. Tons of guys bring their wives/gf's to the shows, after all...

So, after much hand-wringing and emailing, we showed up at Chevy VetteFest in Chicago with a plan. Duane Mayer from American Hotrod was meeting us; he owed us a favor and was there to 'press the flesh'. We had a family from the IBC Awareness and Research Foundation come by; the Kirschenbaums already had to fight this beast off, so they would provide the info and background to the women that stopped by our display. Last but not least, Bob Ashton and his wife Vicki (the organizers of VetteFest) set us up with a HUGE showspace and all the trimmings, and suggested we have a silent auction to raise a little cash for the IBCARF.

And so we did! Using just donated die-cast cars, posters, and the like, we were able to raise over a thousand dollars, and we passed out hundreds of informational CD's and handbills. Duane's job was to drive traffic to the spot, which he did spectacularly, posing for pics and signing autographs. We ordered 200 red carnations and I passed them out to every girl I could find. (For the record, this stops women cold in their tracks. Then I gave them an IBC info disk.)

There were speedbumps, hitches, and snafus (when AREN'T there?), but it all came together and ended up working out. We learned that combining a business event AND a charity event was POSSIBLE, and that simply meant we had to get better at it. Like for the upcoming spring VetteFest, when we'll have a live auctioneer and hopefully some high-end items donated. Vendors, I'm looking at YOU...

All this begs the question: why don't some of the larger companies try this? Traffic at our display was constant, I passed out as many business cards as I did IBC materials, we looked GREAT for doing it, and IBCARF got a shot of much-needed funds. Add to that the 'warm fuzzies' of doing something philanthropic...and it's a no brainer.

Glassworks has raised about 5 thousand dollars for the IBCARF since September, mostly through trial and error.

Glassworks is three guys in a Pittsburgh machine shop.
J
ust imagine the 'damage' some of the huge, rich, connected companies in our industry could do if they felt like it.

Yes, that would be my gauntlet on the ground...