Renowned “Sausage King of Comics” Tony Moore (Walking Dead, Fear Agent, Exterminators) has autographed and donated several articles from his personal collection to auction off at a “A Night of Raising Awareness and Standing Tall”fundraiser to be held on Monday, June 23, 2008, at Baba Budan’s Bearcat Café near the University of Cincinnati’s Uptown campus.
The $5 cover charge and auction proceeds will benefit a new nonprofit founded in Cincinnati, Athletes Joined Against Spondylitis (AJAS), which was created in late 2007 to raise awareness of a crippling form of arthritis called Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) through paintball and other extreme sports.
Veteran paintball player Brian Warner experienced severe back pain for years, which progressively limited his mobility and ability to compete in paintball tournaments. Finally, after 10 years of fruitless tests, he was diagnosed with AS. Warner immediately decided to direct his passion for paintball toward raising funds for AS education, research and treatment. And thus Athletes Joined Against Spondylitis was born.
“I’ve been playing tournament paintball since 1995,” says Warner, AJAS executive director. “It was getting harder and harder to compete in the sport that I loved because of my illness. But it took me 10 years to get diagnosed. Ankylosing Spondylitis just isn’t a household name, even amongst doctors. There’s too little research, too little understanding. If I can change that, even a little bit, through my passion for paintball and athleticism – it’s just what I have to do.”
Warner has assembled “Team FUSE” competitive paintball teams, to focus a spotlight on AS by competing in National Professional Paintball League tournaments and also staffing an information booth at each event for disseminating information about AJAS and Ankylosing Spondylitis. The next event takes place in Buffalo, New York. The event draws thousands of people from all over the United States as well as international competitors and spectators. But it will cost the team $2,300 in entry fees – and a few hundred dollars more out of their own pockets – to get them there.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to spread the message to a large audience,” says AJAS program director David Wohlfeil. “And since it’s mostly young men who get AS and mostly young men who play paintball, there might be someone in Buffalo who needs to hear what we have to say.”
Once AJAS is fully up and running, the board also plans to donate the majority of its proceeds to the missions that provide financial assistance and emotional support to the underinsured. Many insurance companies do not cover the medications needed to treat AS, which run upwards of $30,000 a year.
AJAS and Team FUSE are also working on hosting annual FUSE days starting in the summer of 2009, wherein area at-risk youth and youth with disabilities will be able to experience the fun and competition of paintball to the best of their capabilities. In addition to raising funds and awareness, Warner hopes to become a personal role model for young people – boys and girls alike – who have disabilities.
“Maybe the obstacles on our paintball field can represent the obstacles in their lives that they take out with our paintballs,” says Warner.
To learn more about Ankylosing Spondylitis or Athletes Joined Against Spondylitis, email brian.warner@joinedagainst.org or wendy.beckman@joinedagainst.org.
For details about the fundraiser, email davidwohlfeil@joinedagainst.org or wendy.beckman@joinedagainst.org.
What: “A Night of Raising Awareness and Standing Tall,” Tony Moore Item Auction, Karaoke, DJ FUSE
Where:Baba Budan’s Bearcat Café, 239 W. McMillan St., Cincinnati OH, 45219
When: Monday, June 23, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., with items auctioned every half hour
— $5 cover —
For more information about AJAS: http://www.joinedagainst.org/
For more information about Baba Budan’s: http://www.bababudans.com/
For more information about Tony Moore: http://www.tonymooreillustration.com/
Athletes Joined Against Spondylitis: Raising Awareness and Standing Tall.
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