Beer Face – Crash Relief Fund (UPDATED)
PLEASE READ BELOW
As you know, Patrick crashed his bike. In fact, he just about tore his bottom lip off, and 9 hours in the emergency room later, not to mention the prolonged attention of a plastic surgeon, he’s got bills that insurance won’t touch.
We, his friends, would like to help him get out from under the accident as quickly as possible, so he can focus on healing and also preparing for the imminent birth of his second child.
The man himself is massively reticent about this whole undertaking as he feels responsible for the crash. It was, after all, a solo effort. So, we would like to propose something slightly different.
We have all enjoyed RKP over the last few years. In a very real way, we’ve been on a long, hard ride together, cheering and celebrating our sport, brainstorming solutions for the problems it faces, and sharing expertise on the products we use. Patrick has been the ride leader, and given there is no entry fee for this ride, we’d like to suggest each of you buy our leader a beer. Figuratively of course.
Let’s say a beer is $5. We’d like to ask each of you to contribute that to the fund to cover Patrick’s medical costs. Just $5. You wouldn’t hesitate to buy a buddy a beer after a hard ride together. Let’s do this for Patrick now.
It looks like the ambulance ride, ER time and follow up with the surgeon come to $5,000, so we’re aiming to buy Patrick 1,000 beers. Help us make this happen.
Here are the particulars:
CURRENT TOTAL = $5000+ – Thank you!
We have reached our goal! In fact, we have surpassed it. And, in the interest of complete transparency, before we do anything further, we need to get a final tally of donations and a sharper total for expenses. This has all happened far more quickly than any of us imagined, so while we started out with the goal of raising $5,000, we figured we’d have time to more clearly outline expenses before we even began to approach that goal.
Your generosity has been sudden and overwhelming.
The last thing we want to do is move the goal posts for this project, so we are working quickly to gather what bills are available and to factor in the tax consequences of taking in this money. At the moment, it appears we have all the money we need to address the Brady family’s financial consequences from the crash.
Over the next days we will put out another post with all the details of the expenses and contributions. Thanks everybody who wrote in and/or donated. We are all humbled by the way our community has rallied to our aid.
Happy to contribute… As a bonus, I’m skipping a beer for ea one I donated in the hopes that one day I could once again wait for Patrick at the top of a climb!
Having been in this position, and having had the help of the cycling community in the same way, AND FOR MY FAVOURITE BIKE SITE EVER, I’m more than happy to contribute some libations.
Heal fast, heal strong Padraig.
I’m in. And I suggest schlogging down some Russian River Chocolate Stout once the lips are healed..
-PM
An awesome, awesome tribute to you, Patrick.
More beer on the way, Padraig. Get well soon and get back on the bike to burn it off. Been on the deck like that myself, and it ain’t fun or pretty.
Get well Patrick,
Hope to see you back on the roads soon,
Greg
I’ve been twice denied access to RKP today(two separate occasions) because of server issues. I can only hope that it is due to such an increase in site traffic resulting in “Beer Money”. This is a great website and people are obviously proud to support it and it’s employees.
Jeremy: Sorry about the server issues. Yeah, traffic is through the roof. This really caught our host off guard. Thanks for the kind words.
Hope you heal up quickly Padraig and that the beer money that none of us will miss helps with that process. Give a shout out next time you’re in the happy valley of western MA and we’ll lift a real one together.
how can we contribute???
wow Padraig epic picture,
heal up soon. i seem to have seen this too late to catch the ‘donation deadline’ but hope you are ok and if those bills come to more let us know, more than willing to donate
Everyone: Again, I need to thank you for the many beers and for all the kind words. For those of you who missed the window, if you’d still like to do something nice, I’d like to suggest a donation to the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) in the name of Philip Brady, my son. I think they are doing more to bring new riders into the sport than anyone else and they could use more grease on their bearings. I’m hoping Philip will be a member some day and I’d like to see NICA prosper in the meantime. http://www.nationalmtb.org/donate/
Hola Patrick,
I shelled out for a virtual liter of microbrew barleywine and am looking forward to sharing an actual one with you sometime in the near future.
V
Okay, so I am Padraig’s Mom.
Have commented sometimes.
This comment is the most heartfelt and significant I have given.
In Padraig’s words, the outpouring of love and contribution has been ‘staggering and humbling’. I have known him to be the man you honor.
I am indebted to and honor each one of you. May each one of you have angels at your door when you are in need. You, each of you, have been so for my son.
Blessings to you!
Very sorry to read about the crash. Happy to have contributed from the land down under. All the very best for your recovery.
including a ” click to contribute ” link would be a great idea.
@All – Just to reiterate what I wrote in the UPDATED post, we have reached our goal and are no longer taking donations. Thanks so much for getting us there so quickly. NPR should think about selling beer. Just sayin.
Glad to have helped.
I donate to NPR too. Ira Glass is the man.
Adam: Word. How I love “This American Life.”
$5k will cover it? Ha! The bills will still be rolling in months from now! After 3 surgeries on a broken neck in Moab I’m happy to help with the stragglers that roll in late.
Bob: There’s a chance you’re right and I might get a surprise. But I swear, even if we’ve miscalculated and I end up having to fish out $1000, even $2000, it will be a colossal relief compared to what I was facing 72 hours ago. It won’t change how profoundly everyone has helped me. I’m grateful, as we like to say around here, full stop.
Really glad to hear Patricks going to be OK, both physically and financially.
So… just wondering… why wouldn’t these expenses be covered by insurance? WTF is your insurance for then?
Sorry, I’m from the great white north, and I just can’t understand your backwards HC system.
Dave J: Some tweets and comments have mischaracterized the situation somewhat. My insurance is covering some of the costs. Unfortunately, so far, it’s less than half of what is owed. My coverage has just turned out to be far less robust than I was led to believe when I purchased the policy. And here in this country, I have to purchase an individual plan because I don’t have a normal 9-5 employer, and individual plans are the most expensive plans going.
I am not a tax advisor/tax attorney, but gifts under $11,000 are not required to be reported to the IRS, and are not subject to taxation.
Now my contribution to the fund (2 beers) is a should be considered a gift, because I know that the account is not being set-up as tax-exempt organization, I will not be claiming a deduction.
And as far as I know, unless any one individual has donated in excess of $11,000, then all of these gifts should be tax-free.
Again, I’m not a tax advisor/tax attorney, but it seems like that’s how it should be applied across the board.
I’ve been riding a bike for 30 years and am commuting four days a week. I have good insurance and my Wife has bought extra insurance for that, maybe, ride to the hospital.
I just happened to stumble onto this Web site and the story of your crash. No one should go down on the hard, hard ground and have a painfull recovery. But even though the bike is an inherently unstable vehicle, it makes you feel alive. Like when you were a kid.
It makes me feel really good to hear that your friends and community came together and helped you out.
I saw a sign on the way home that said, “People on Bikes are Beautiful”.
What a great Community of people to come and help someone they haven’t even met, but only know you through your writings. Keep up the great work.
Tim: Thanks for your kind words. Cyclists really do make for a great community. I plan to be doing this for many years to come.