Charity Donation for Ben & Corey - June 2,2005

We at Ferrari Driving Club would like to express our sincerest condolences to the close friends and family of fellow drivers, Ben Keaton and Corey Rudl, who passed away in a tragic accident on June 2, 2005.

Both Ben and Corey have touched the lives of many people on this site and others. Many have been affected by this tragedy and do not know exactly how to contribute. As we have lost other friends in this community in the past, it is times like this that we can pull together as a community.

As an effort to help remember them, we have set up a paypal donation account to collect donations for Ben & Corey through the month of June. At the close of the month, we will work with the family to make arrangements for a donation to a memorial fund or charity of the family's choice, in Ben's and Corey's names, in memory of their passing.

Paypal email account: [email protected]

Please provide your full name / email in a separate email to [email protected] so that we can compile a list of contributors for the family as well.

We are working on the possibility of setting up a tribute drive as well during the month of July. More details will follow.

Ben Keaton & Corey Rudl - may you rest in peace.

With deepest sympathy,
Byron Cheng
Jean-Louis Michel
Ferrari Driving Club

 

My apologies - the paypal account has now been activated.

Please note that 100% of the proceeds will be donated.

Dustin at Village Coffee Roasters has stepped up to help coordinate with the tribute drive as well - maybe we can arrange for it to coincide with a Euro Sunday event.

Thanks for the support - let's keep pooling our resources.

Byron

 

I've received some suggestions of charities...

Some include:
Make-A-Wish Foundation
11-99 Foundation

We've had good experiences with both foundations in the past and would love to continue to support the cause.

Folks - this is not a fundraiser... this is a voluntary donation only. There was a similar donation drive for another fallen f-chatter, Jens Haller, in the past... to follow in the same tradition of the ferrari community, I thought it would be a good idea to create a means of collection in their honor.

Thanks,
Byron

 

Thanks for the donations, guys... keep them coming.

Jet-X - I totally agree. Based on what people are posting on the tribute thread, Make-A-Wish Foundation makes perfect sense. It seems Ben had a natural inclination of making many peoples' wishes come true.

Byron

 

Thank you everyone for all of your generous donations and kind words. We will be compiling the list of contributors and all of your comments for the families.

Dave Bhuta mentioned that Ben's wife has requested that we donate his portion to an orphanage in Mexico. We will be working with him to make this happen. In addition, we will work with a friend of Corey's family to make their contribution happen as well. When we receive the poster of Corey from Rob (from Montreal), we will announce a location where you will be able to sign it.

Several of you have asked where to send payment (for non-paypal users). Please send your check payable to 'Ferrari Driving Club' at:

Ferrari Driving Club
11901 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 348
Los Angeles, CA 90025
U.S.A.

For those responding with your names to [email protected], please also include your location, so that we can capture that for the families. We have had responses from all over the US, including parts of the Europe as well. Just shows how many lives these guys have really touched.

We will continue collecting funds for the entire month of June, at which point, we will divide the contributions to equal portions to each of the families to donate to the charities in Ben's and Corey's names.

Thanks again everyone for your amazing support and generosity. The response has been overwhelming. And this response is not limited to this board - 6speedonline and the entire porsche community (where Ben was very active) have all really pulled together to make some magic happen. I was honored to be part of the crystal cove tribute this morning, which was extremely moving. I am certain the families are grateful for your thoughtfulness.

Byron

 

Thank you everyone for your generosity and thoughtful messages. It is simply amazing how many people have reached out... and from all places, globally!

We've raised about $1000 so far - keep the donations coming! Remember, no amount is too small and none too great. These are for good causes and the donations will be made in the names of Corey Rudl and Ben Keaton.

We've had donations locally from CA (Newport Beach, Irvine, Laguna, Thousand Oaks, Upland, Los Angeles, Sunnyvale), Washington, Maryland, Nevada, Illinois, Ohio, Florida, Georgia, and the United Kingdom!

Also, Ferrari Driving Club, Ferrari Owners Club, and Symbolic Motors will be teaming up during the month of July to hold a tribute drive where we will be raising additional funds for this cause.

Thanks for all of your support!

Byron & Jean-Louis
FDC

 

[size=+2]Thank you to everyone who donated to this cause.[/size]

On July 24, 2005, Ferrari Driving Club hosted a memorial driving event with Ferrari Owners Club of SD and Lamborghini of SD to Julian, CA. Thanks to your generous donations in this thread and the funds raised during the drive (raffle/auction), we raised over [size=+1]$6,500[/size] for the Mexico Mission Orphanage, sponsored by the Canyon Hills Community Church in San Diego, CA!!

Some additional sponsors included:
Kinesis Motorsport, HRE Wheels, Granite Auto Grooming, DUB Mag, ASG Photowerks, FX Performance, Valence USA, Godiva Chocolatiers, Symbolic Motors, West Coast Wheels, Sea World, Envisage Design Labs, Hoehn Porsche, Dave & Buster's, and Red Bull

The final disbursement of the checks will hopefully be completed this week, and a formal letter will be drafted to the families listing all of the donors and their respective locations.

Thank you everyone for making this happen!!

Byron Cheng
Jean-Louis Michel
FDC