09/20/2026
Kind Of A Wrap Up…The 9th Running and Epic Return of the Four Leaf Clover Run/Walk 🍀 Someone asked me the other day if I’d have a “total” on how the race did by the end of the week 😵💫 The short answer…No. The pics of my house haven’t changed since Saturday (race day) as I hurriedly unloaded the U-Haul, grabbed my car and sped off to Geneva for Bike Week and Eddies which was at the tipping point of the weekend 😜 The dining room “office” (I have three “offices” in my house) hasn’t changed a bit other then my ocd traits have straightened up the piles. I haven’t touched the post race administrative duties. I have paid a couple bills. Post race the foundation becomes, essentially, an army of one…Me. Truth be told my first priority, post race, is to get back to my businesses. While they never take a back seat things are prioritized the weeks leading up to the race. However….
I think I can say that I’m pretty confident this years campaign including the Rockin 4 Cancer concert rescheduled for October 10th in Barberton featuring Paradise - The Meat Loaf Tribute will be the largest fundraising effort since our inception in 2015 🫶 To give you an idea…I’m still working on collecting nearly 10k in sponsorship pledges from this year, haven’t balanced the limited beer sales with the returns or received the refund, still waiting on bills from the City of Akron, porta pots, haven’t balanced race day sales (beer, bbq, vintage shirts, on site donations, the raffle, etc)…It’s a job guys. I’m gonna go through a bunch of stuff finally this afternoon. I will also add that the rain, unfortunately, probably cost us about 2-3k in monies we typically raise race day. The only “down” item. On top of all that…expenses are way up…imagine that. The cost of the city services alone has gone up 50% since the early days. Medals and shirts are up. The rentals are up over 50% also but much of that can be attributed to our growth as a race. Suffice to say…I’m working on it. It’s gonna be an amazing endgame. 😎
Since our inception in 2015 through 2025 the Four Leaf Clover Foundation has raised in excess of 145,000.00 for our charity partners and our Adopted Fighter Program. We have written checks for over 100,000.00 for our partners including Project Ed Bear, the Comunale Cancer Foundation and Stewart's Caring Place: Cancer Wellness Center. Additionally 8 local families have received over 45,000.00 through our Adopted Fighter Program. It was my hope to surpass 30,000.00 with this year’s campaign. While that number won’t be realized due a bit to the rain and, to be honest, it looked like we were headed for 525 maybe even 550 participants…we ended up with just under 500 participants for this years race. However our corporate sponsorship was the largest, by far, since our inception. I feel pretty good about what we’ve achieved and accomplished for the local cancer community. I feel very confident we will surpass 170,000.00 raised since 2016 with this year’s efforts in the 26k range. Not too shabby for a man with a dream and a vision along with a very small team of three runners, primarily, that wanted to make a difference in the name of Michelle, Michael and Mary Anne 💔
So there you go guys…that’s a bit of a wrap up. I will report back later in time with a more definitive endgame although I’m pretty close already. I will also probably share some personal thoughts in the coming days and continue to share some fave moments in time and pics. Thank you all to those that have participated, volunteered, donated, sponsored and believed in my mission to make the ripples grow wider for the local Akron cancer community. There’s no better words than…I Love You ❤️
Be A Difference Maker,
Ed
Note: See My Next Post In A Minute….😉
