A little refresher: Sean was a good friend and MTV colleague, who also played in the awesome bands Saves The Day, Hands Tied, and Mouthpiece. The Sean McGrath Fund was born in 2002 when some friends and I threw a benefit concert (featuring our friends Thursday, Taking Back Sunday, Midtown, and The Movielife) for Sean's medical expenses after his diagnosis with advanced cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer), and the Fund was officially incorporated as a charity through the Princeton Area Community Foundation after Sean's death in 2004.
In the dozen years since, we've given over $36,000 in grants to health and humanitarian causes locally, nationally, and internationally (most recently renewing our longtime annual support of the amazing New Jersey youth health organization HiTOPS).
The money that I find and pick up on the street throughout the year and set aside for the SMcGF is just a drop in that big ol' bucket, but when it comes to charity, every little bit helps...and this year's little bit was a lot bigger than usual! Let's look at the breakdown:
.01 x 310 = $3.10
.05 x 13 = $0.65
.10 x 44 = $4.40
.25 x 19 = $4.75
1.00 x 3 = $3.00
10.00 x 1 = $10.00
10.00 x 1 = $10.00
Boosting that tally slightly is the foreign currency I came across in my wanderings (fifty-one Canadian cents and one Euro cent, worth thirty-seven American cents altogether); boosting it considerably is the value of seven separate New York City MetroCards I found, with a whopping combined total value of $87.24!
That raises this year's grand total to a record-setting (drum roll please...) $113.51!
As I do every year, I'm asking friends, readers, and supporters to match the donation in honor of what would have been Sean's 40th birthday in late January. Whether you match my donation at the $113.51 "challenge" level, or make a $40 gift to mark his 40th birthday, or even just throw a fiver into the hopper, your generosity will amplify the impact of this found change and help us support great causes through the Sean McGrath Fund in the year ahead. If you'd like to make a donation, hit the orange button on the PACF site and make sure you specify "Sean McGrath Fund" in your note.
And maybe that $100+ tally makes you curious about how much found money you run across yourself in an average year. If so, I hope you'll join me in designating a jar or jug and spend the next year filling it with any money you happen to find on the sidewalk, the subway, the bank, the checkout counter, the couch cushions, or anyplace else, and then join me in donating your grand tally next year.
When you add it all up, small change can really make a big change in the world!
