Cole's Charity Corner

Dear Friends and Leonard:

First off, I'd like to remind you all that I am a lot funnier than Paolo, better looking than Bobby, and am more trustworthy than Fliss (see Barbuce Cup circa 2000), so you should really consider me the source of what happening with the Barbuce.

We're all quite a bit older now than when we first started this - our hair is a bit thinner and greyer, our boobs sag a bit lower, and our balls resemble raisins more than they do actual testicles. That said, what's amazing is that we continue to step it up every year for Matt and raise money to keep his name in the Sudbury community!

Thanks to all of your generosity, we have succeeded in this as we are entering our fifth year of sponsoring the Sudbury tee-ball league. That's well over 600 Sudbury kids who have worn Matt's name on their backs and his initials on their sleeves. Every one of those kids will look back to those days and remember that they played in the Matt Bardsley tee-ball league. I think that's really special, and I thank you for taking part in this.

We're also on board to continue sponsoring the "Friends of Matthew Bardlsey Memorial Scholarship." It's great to be able to honor Matt in this way and give a graduating student an award with Matt's name on it. I wanted to take this time to formally recognize the winners of Matt's scholarship:

2010: Alexandra Capone
2009: Dianna Gormley
2008: Amy Lieblein
2007: Heather Zaring
2006: Bridgette Griffin

In case you're sensing a pattern in the winners, let me first say that they were chosen by committee and that Matt loved the ladies, so we're really just selecting the individual to whom we think Matt would give the award. But seriously congratulations to all of them. We don't have strict selection guidelines, but we try to select an individual who value their friends and family and have an overall positive outlook on life.

I think of Matt often, and there isn't a single memory that doesn't make me smile. We're all doing something real special here by keeping those memories fresh. Your ongoing generosity, support and participation is crucial in order to keep doing what we've been doing. Thanks to everyone, and I hope to see you all at the event in July, and maybe a few more new faces. Please feel free to reach out to me at jcole1118@gmail.com if you have any suggestions of how we should spend your generous donations.

Best,

Jeff