Update on Luke

It has been a busy spring and early summer for all of us at The Luke Pier Foundation. We finished the softball tournament in May and are happy to announce that we raised over $2,000.00 for our cause! Thank you to all of our supporters and teams. And a special thank-you to our sponsors, Community One Bank, Piedmont Natural Gas and Boatsman, Gillmore & Associates!

Luke had another appointment at Johns Hopkins a couple of weeks ago. He received good news about the aortic aneurysm (dilated aortic root) - it is still a good size for his body size and age! They want to continue monitoring him, of course, but he is okay for the time being.

Luke will need a different kind of surgery within the next 12 months, though. He will return to Johns Hopkins to undergo the Nuss procedure. Some people who have connective tissue disorders also develop pectus excavatum (or sunken chest). They want to perform the operation on Luke before he gets much older. Because he is still young (he's 15 now), his bones are still pliable and will adapt to the operation much better than if they were to postpone it. We are thrilled that he will have the opportunity to fix his chest and cannot wait to see the results. We will let everyone know more as the surgery gets closer.

We will be working on the plans for our next fundraiser in the coming weeks. If you have any ideas about fundraisers that you think would be successful and draw a crowd, please leave a comment or send an email to info@thelukepierfoundation.org.

As always, thank you for your support!

People Are Talking!

We are excited about our 3rd Annual Softball tournament tomorrow, & we're even more excited to read that people are talking about us!

SJB Weddings & Events has been a sponsor of The Luke Pier Foundation since our inception, & they're still talking about us after all this time! Click here to read their great post about us!

We're also being talked about on our new Twitter account. If you are on Twitter, feel free to follow us! Our ID is @TLPF, & we post updates about our fundraisers as well as important info on the latest news & research of connective tissue disorders.

Thanks again, SJB Weddings & Events, for your continued support!

Your Chance to Make a Difference

We now offer four options for our softball tournament sponsors! If you are interested in sponsoring our 3rd Annual Softball Tournament, please contact us at info@thelukepierfoundation.org. Thank you!

$1,000 Level - Grand Slam Sponsors

• Logo on www.thelukepierfoundation.org


• Link to your website


• Brief paragraph about your business on www.thelukepierfoundation.org


• Top level logo on volunteer t-shirts


• Top level logo on sponsors banner displayed at tournament

$500 Level - Home Run Sponsors

• Logo on www.thelukepierfoundation.org


• Link to your website


• Mid-level logo on volunteer t-shirts


• Mid-level logo on sponsors banner displayed at tournament

$300 Level - Triple Sponsors

• Link to your website on www.thelukepierfoundation.org


• Lower-level logo on volunteer t-shirts

$100 Level - Base Hit Sponsors

• Your company name on www.thelukepierfoundation.org


• Your company name on volunteer t-shirts

Payment Methods

• PayPal *preferred method (Select the 'Donate Now' button below, or on our website, to sponsor the tournament)


• Check


• Money order


• Payment must be received by April 25, 2009

The Softball Tournament is the Foundation’s largest fundraiser each year and is crucial to our operation. We have set an aggressive goal of raising $35,000.00 in 2009. We need your support to reach this goal. Funds raised this year through the tournament will be used for the following:

• Funding for life-saving scientific research focusing on, but not limited to, connective tissue disorders
• Funding to individuals for medical treatment they may not otherwise receive due to limited resources or a lack of health insurance
• Encouragement to individuals with medical needs

Thank you for your support!

It's That Time of Year!

Contact us to sign up your team or sponsor this event!

A Big Thank You!

We had a great time at Holiday From the Heart at Mercedes-Benz of South Charlotte! Approximately 50 people attended, & we were able to get our name out to that many more people in the Charlotte area!

The silent auction table was amazing - so many great businesses & individuals donated to the auction this year, & we are so thankful to them for their participation! Check out our website for more information about the sponsors of this year's event!

We thought you would enjoy seeing a few pictures from the event. If you were not able to attend, you really missed out on a wonderful night of food, fun & spreading the word about The Luke Pier Foundation, aortic aneurysms & connective tissue disorders. Click here to view the full album.

Live cooking demonstration by Blue Restaurant.
The Kimberly Carper Band donated their time to the event & did a wonderful job singing some amazing blues & jazz!
A large view of the dealership, including the great silent auction table right in the center.

Thank you again to all who came & donated their time & money to our great cause. In all we raised approximately $1900 from the silent auction, & Mercedes-Benz of South Charlotte gave us a generous (& unexpected!) donation of $2500. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!

Holiday From the Heart

*Click on the image to view the high-resolution invitation.

We are still in need of silent auction items for this fundraiser!

Please consider donating* a gift basket from your favorite store or gift card from your favorite restaurant to The Luke Pier Foundation to help make our silent auction a success. We are also accepting cash donations that we will use to purchase items for the silent auction! Please contact us today if you are able to donate* something to this exciting event! *Donations are tax deductible as permitted by law.

Save the Date

To contact us about this event, please send us an email!
*Click on the image to view it in a larger format.

Hitting the airwaves!

We are so excited to announce that WBT, our Official Media Sponsor of the May 3rd softball tournament fundraiser, is now airing 30 second promos about the tournament on their radio station! They are helping us reach so many people with the information about our fundraiser!

We also have some other exciting radio news! A local Charlotte radio DJ, Allen, from Kiss 95.1 is conducting an interview with Luke & the Foundation today! The interview will air on April 20th & 27th from 6am-7am. Kiss 95.1 will air it on one of those dates, & 104.7 will air it on the other Sunday.

It's early for many of you in the Charlotte area, but maybe while you're sipping your coffee you'll remember to tune your radio to 95.1 or 104.7 & listen in!

The interview itself will be approximately 30 minutes long & will give us a chance to discuss the tournament, Luke & the Foundation in length. You don't want to miss it! Allen interviewed us last year & really helped us educate people on why we do what we do! Thanks again, Allen!

Have you signed up yet?

It's time for our 2nd softball tournament, & we are so excited about the prospect of this year being bigger & better than last year! But we cannot do it without your help!

We have received word about a few teams that are being formed, but we need more than a few! If you haven't signed your team up already, please send us an email to sign up! The tournament is such a fun way to raise awareness about The Luke Pier Foundation!

We are also looking for sponsors. Sponsorships will be our best chance of reaching our goal to raise $50,000.00 in 2008! We are offering sponsorships at the $1000 & $500 levels. Please send us an email if your business would like to sponsor the tournament or if you know of any companies that would be good sponsorship candidates!

Thanks again for your support, & let us know if you need more info about signing up a team, sponsoring the tournament or anything else!