#SkipTheClip Fundraiser for the Greg Chew Theatre Scholarship was a huge success!

National Bow Tie Day 2015 was a lot of fun for a great cause.  The #SkipTheClip Fun-draiser for the Greg Chew Theatre Scholarship at Urbana High School combined bow ties, pies, and a lot of selfies (Scroll all the way down for a slideshow).

We raised over $1500 for the Greg Chew Theatre Scholarship!

THANK YOU!

I have dozens of people to thank, but the person who gets top billing is Molly Delaney, Executive Director of the Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation, which manages the Chew Scholarship.  Molly decided to see my bow tie fundraising as a challenge, and raise the stakes!  She created Pies and Ties as a friendly parallel to #SkipTheClip.  She auctioned off 13 of her famously delicious Dutch Apple pies and donated all proceeds to the Chew Scholarship.  Thank you Molly!

This idea would not have been an idea without the encouragement and support of Steve Beckett (UHS Distinguished Alumnus) and Tom Costello, who convinced me to offer a "How to Tie a Bow Tie" class, which became #SkipTheClip 2014.  This year, the two of them bought me the tiger print bow tie from Beau Ties Ltd, which I wore for #SkipTheClip 2015.

Next, I would like to thank my sponsors and donors:

The Bow Tie Aficionado 

(helped me publicize the event)

Rock My Bow Tie

 (donated 4 amazing bow ties that will be given away to a few lucky participants)

Steve Beckett

Tom Costello

Amy Owen

Steven Peterson

Christine Cox

Kurt Magoon

Stephanie Cockrell

Stephanie Alvez

Matt Stark

Molly Delaney

(and there are probably others who I have yet to hear about!)

I would also like to thank Steve Holstein and Andy Roberts of WIXY 100.3 and Anna Carrera of WICA for covering and promoting the story on local media.  Link to the WCIA Story: Honoring teacher with Bow Tie Day - Story | ILLINOISHOMEPAGE

Last, and definitely not least, I would like to thank all of the people who participated in #SkipTheClip 2015.  I have made a donation in your name to the Greg Chew Theatre Scholarship.  (I also threw in a little extra, because there were dozens of people wearing bow ties across Urbana who I did not find or did not want to send in a picture.)  Keep scrolling down for a slide show from #SkipTheClip.  Here are as many participants as I can name (in no particular order):

Matt Stark

Kevin Kennedy

Dave Dutton

Stephanie Cockrell

Stephanie Alves

Sarah Tavis

Cara Maurizi

Vashaun Wilson

Spencer Landsman

Crystal Vowels

Tom Costello

Steve Schoemaker

Lucia Maldonado

Terry Napper

Alex Valencic

Jill Quizenberry

Tanissa Tutwiler

Katie Snyder

Shontelle Mapson

Steve Pavlakis

Sarah Loftus

Christopher Fuller

Kurt Magoon

Gene Rebeck

Chuck Geigner

Mr. Murphy

Lawon Exum

Harold Miller

John Dimit

Tom Moone

Ben Barth

Kyle Thompson

Paul Hoffman

Lance Landeck

Alisa Rocha

Neil DeLand

And Students:

Warrensburg Latham Football Team

Mrs. Feller's class at UMS

Marcus

Luke

Cara

Elin

Darian

Sarah

Click here for a collection of most of the #SkipTheClip Photos from 2015!  Thank you again to everyone who made this event such a huge success!

If I missed your name or your picture, and you would like me to include you in the the credits, please let me know!

Thank you all!

DDO