Archive for July, 2010

Surf Celebration!!!!

Monday, July 26th, 2010

My buddy, Mike Ricker, gave me a Stetson cowboy hat in November. You may remember that I mentioned that eight months ago, but I felt like it needed to revisit the “hat” because I wear it whenever I write about Molly. I am wearing it now. Bull rider’s crease, seagull feather stuck in the band, and wearing the hat has proven to provide me with….a certain amount of strength when I put pen to paper. Call it my “thinking cap” for lack of a better word.

I will have the Stetson with me for “The Molly – Surf Celebration” that we’re going to be throwing down at The Wall on August 22nd. 8/22/10 – this is Molly’s birthday. She would have turned 7, so instead of a birthday bash we’re going to have a Surf Celebration and the WORLD IS INVITED.

We need the Stetson, trust me, because the Surf Celebration involves a surf contest that’s unlike any surf contest that you’ve ever encountered. $30 is the entry fee. This is a FUN-raiser! If you’re 13 years old or older then you don’t need to bring your board because we’ll have boards provided for you. Groms 12 and under can ride their own boards, but the guys and gals who are older than 12 have to pick a piece of paper out of my Stetson that will list the exact board that they will have to ride during their heat. If you don’t like your pick, no problem, but just make sure you have $20 in your pocket because you will have the choice to upgrade your board based on the boards we have in the alternative board quiver. “The Molly” surf contest will be set-up at 18th St. at The Wall and we will begin sign-ups at 7:00am on 8/22/10. We are not going to be conducting pre-registration online, so please swing over to 18th St. at 7:00 am and sign up the day of the contest in order to secure your slot in The Molly. Bring some moola. You don’t want to be stuck riding an 8 ft. BZ softie during your heat. Trust me…..

We have to have a party on Molly’s birthday, and the only place at the beach to throw a bash is at Bicentennial Park. The park is located at the north end of The Wall, by the bathhouse – directly across the street from Cinnamon Rainbows – and the party kicks off at 9:00am. Believe me when I say that you won’t be able to miss the action because we’ll have a ton of Oakley tents set up in the park as a reference. We will have live music, food; plenty of activities for the kids throughout the day so please save the date and join us on the beach. Of course, we’ll have a ton of “Molly” gear for sale, as this is FUN-raiser, and we have a lot of new gear to peddle so please bring your ….moola!

I will post more specific info on www.mollyrowlee.com as we get closer to the event date, and all local surf shops will have posters and information on hand if you have any questions. If you would like to volunteer for this event, and we certainly need a ton of volunteers, then please email Meighan at meighanrowlee@hotmail.com and Meg will get you dialed in for sure.

Ralph Fatello kicked off his 365 day run this morning and we all stormed 10 St. in order to show our support. Thanks to Sashi for shaping Ralph the magic 5 Star custom longboard that Ralph will ride every day for the next 12 months. We had an amazing crowd on hand and it was a gorgeous morning. Ralph will be raising money for The Molly Fund by surfing every single day for the next year. Surfing 365 days strait in New Hampshire is super @#$% human! Ralph, you’re a beautiful human being, sir! Please go to www.catchawavefor molly.com for all of the details and you can link back to the Molly site if you would like to donate to Ralph’s quest in honor of a loved one.

Thank you all for the continued support. It is truly amazing what we’re able to help a handful of other families that are in the same tough spot that Meg and I were facing only a short time ago. All of you, all of you rallied together in order to pull Meighan and I through those horrible times and, in turn, we’re able to return the favor. Aloha. We are sharing “aloha”……Thank you for the help.

I hope to see ya’ll on the beach on August 22nd. Come surf with us, come celebrate with us, and please come and help us help others. Swing by 18th St. and give me a hug and a high five. I’ll be the guy wearing the cowboy hat….and I’ll be the one taking your twenty bucks. Nobody wants to ride the 8 ft. BZ. Trust me…..I know.

Mahalo…..

Buck

Catch A Wave – Day 1

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Ralph Fatello kicked off his Catch A Wave for Molly today, where he will be surfing every day for a year to support the Molly Fund. You can get all the info and donate at www.catchawaveformolly.com. He’s got a blog where you can see his updates about this year-long event. Brian Nevinstook the shots below.

Get Your New Molly Shirts

Friday, July 16th, 2010

Cooties

We’ve got some new shirts we’re selling for an upcoming event in NC, click here to be the first to buy one.

They come in 2 colors for men(unisex) and two for women, all sizes.

Catch a wave for Molly!

Friday, July 16th, 2010

Catch a wave for Molly.
On July 26th, Ralph Fatello is going to begin his quest to catch a wave every single day for the next 365 days in order to raise money for the Molly Fund. Many of us are going to join Ralph at 9am at The Wall next Monday in order to support Ralph, so please join us if your schedule allows.

The story broke this morning in the Hampton Union, and please click the below link if you would like to read the entire story…
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20100716-NEWS-7160334

Many thanks to all of you that swung by the beach on Monday in order to help Meg, Kieran, and I celebrate Molly. Ralph Fatello said it best, that Monday marked the “last of the firsts” and that is certainly true. The most difficult time is behind us. Molly would want us to be happy, all of us, and Meighan and I could sense that because we were both feeling good throughout the day on Monday. To have 100 of our close pals and family on the beach with us on Monday night was simply amazing. The kids took it upon themselves to decorate the beach with “Molly” hearts and shakas – constructed with beach stones and flowers. It was beautiful and it was the perfect way to celebrate Molly. Thank you to all that helped make that night so very special.

Hugs,

Buck

One Year

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

Some amazing photos from Brian Nevins, at the Wall celebrating the one year milestone of losing Molly.

Throwin’ Shakas

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

Monday July 12th.

Meg and I are going to walk down to 10th St. at The Wall on Monday evening, 6:07pm, and we’re going to honor our baby girl.  It would be so awesome if we were surrounded by our family and friends because I’m sure that we’re going to need to share some hugs, shed a few tears, and throw Molly a shaka or two.  Please join us at The Wall on Monday as we would love to have ya’ll join us to help Meg and I celebrate Molly.

Surviving 365 days without Molly – you can imagine how difficult the journey has been this past year for our family but we’ve managed to battle through the pain.  Without the continued emotional support that Meg and I are still receiving from our community, our friends, and our family…we would be devastated.  That has not been the case because we’re surrounded by love, we’re being showered with emotional support, and we’re living.  We are living.  We are happy.  But we carry the constant pain of having lost a child to cancer.  The sadness is at times overwhelming, but we’ve come to “live with the suck.”  That is how Meg and I describe our feelings to each other.  We are learning to live with the suck, and I honestly cannot imagine how we could possibly do this without support.

Support:  I walked out of the water the other day from surfing and I ran into a friend who I haven’t seen for a long, long time and he gave me a hug and we talked a bit about Molly.  Our good friend, Magi Wilson, just sent us a check for $200 that her son, Mike, raised for the Molly Fund with his lemonade stand.  There have been a handful of kids that have given us money that they raised with their lemonade stands.  Some of these kids were Molly’s pals, but some of these kids were strangers that heard about Molly and they just wanted to help.  How beautiful.  This journey has been painful but filled with so much joy at the same time.  Helping other folks does make you feel good.  The Molly Fund is doing a lot of good, we’re helping a handful of families that have children battling cancer, and we’re receiving a lot support from folks that want to help us raise money for the Molly Fund.

Mike-lemonade

On July 26th, Ralph Fatello is going to begin his year long quest to “Catch a Wave for Molly.”  Ralph is going to catch a wave, every single day for the next year, in order to raise money for the Molly Fund.  Please check Ralph’s website, www.ralphspic.com, for the full story but this event is incredible.  Folks will be able to donate money to the Molly Fund in honor of a loved one and their name will be added to a surfboard that we’ll have on display.  A lot of us are passionate about surfing, we would love an opportunity to surf every single day for 365 days strait, but how many of us would paddle out when it’s ankle high in January, the snow is blowing sideways, and it’s -15 degrees outside.  Not me.  Ralph is a true warrior and a beautiful human being for lending his incredible support for the Molly Fund.

Carl and Jessica Wallin will be in Wrightsville Beach, NC next weekend selling the new Molly tees, bracelets, and stickers at the Reef/Sweetwater Pro surf contest.  Carl’s company, Action Sports Now, is one of the title sponsors and Carl wanted to lend support in raising money for the Molly Fund.  It is our goal to be able to use the proceeds to help a local family in NC.  Hugs and high fives to Carl and Jessica, and thanks to Heath and Jessica Lewis for rallying to help sling some Molly swag as well.

group2

Celebrate Molly.  We had a big ol’ party last year on Molly’s birthday – August 22nd.  Please save the date again this year because we’re going to have a beach party/Molly Fund Surf Celebration ….”The Molly”….at The Wall on August 22nd.  The beach party will be at Bicentennial Park (on the north end of North Beach) and there will be a surf contest going on at the same time.  A surf celebration!!!  Good food, great live music, and fun surf.  Molly loved a good party!

Surf contests are not for everyone, I realize this, so I decided that in order for all of my friends to get involved in this event then I needed to format the contest a little differently.  Contestants will not be allowed to use their own boards.  We will supply the boards and we’ll run five people in a heat.  Before the start of the heat, the contestants will reach into a hat and pull a slip of paper out that will have the name of the board that they’ll have to surf in their heat.  You may have to ride a 12ft. Skip Fry longboard, a 5’6 Steve Lis fish, or one of Steve O’Hara’s legendary “Freak” boards.  WAIT!  If you’re bummed about having to ride an 8 ft. BZ softie, then you can pay $20 and pick another board from a 10 board quiver that will be available for those that want to adjust their board pick.  Pretty rad!  Now keep in mind that “The Molly” Surf Celebration is a FUN-raiser and we need to raise money for the Molly Fund.  I will keep ya’ll posted with more details in the coming weeks on the website, and all local surf shops will have posters and info of the event.  Please join us on August 22nd for The Molly Surf Celebration and help us help others.  It feels good to help….

The Boston Bruins Alumni vs. The Surfers hockey game that we held in March raised over $30,000.  We wouldn’t have been able to pull off this event without so much support from so many people.  Thank you!  We have made over $15,000 selling Molly tees, bracelets, and stickers.  Both Cinnamon Rainbows and Pioneers are stocking Molly bracelets and stickers, and I can’t even tell you how amazing it is when I see a Molly sticker on someone’s car or surfboard…especially when I don’t personally know that person. How beautiful.  The support has been beautiful.  Thank you all – bless you all – and I hope to see many of you on the beach with us Monday evening.  Shaka, Mol!

With love,

Buck