Grynn & Dare It Embarrassing Ourselves for Charity, One Employee at a Time.
How often have you sat around the lunch table with your coworkers and had one snarky comment evolve into "The Greatest Idea Ever?" After countless lunches of being offered chicken nuggets, steak tips, and ham sandwiches, Heather, our resident vegetarian finally caved. She agreed to eat six chicken wings - but only if Jason wore high heels for an entire day. Ideas started flying, and by the end of lunch five employees had been suckered into an entire week of dares for charity. Grynn & Dare It was born.
What kind of dares are we talking about? We’re reasonable people. We’re not talking Johnny Knoxville or Steve-O caliber dares, but if you want to see a man wearing heels or a photographer dressed as a clown, we’ve got just the dares for you.
How’s all of this going to work? Each of our five lucky employees has accepted a dare, chosen their charity and are mentally preparing for what they'll endure once they reach their $500 fundraising goal. Read their empassioned pleas below and stay tuned during the week as we post pictures and videos of our first "Grynn & Dare It" extravaganza.
Jason Wears Heels to Work and Competes in the Heel Olympics
I’ll admit it, I’m an instigator. I like daring someone to do something just as much as the next person. Now the dare’s on me. Can you believe they dared me to wear high-heels at work and complete an obstacle course while wearing them? I’ll admit, this pushes me on my comfort zone, but raising money for The Children’s Study Home is well worth it.
The Children’s Study Home is an organization of professionals and volunteers dedicated to caring for and improving the lives of at-risk children, youth and families through high quality educational, residential and family services. Since 1865, The Children's Study Home has been dedicated to the belief that the family is the core of a child's life experience, and that whenever possible, preservation of the family unit should be supported.
For more information about The Children’s Study Home, please visit studyhome.org.
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Tuesday August 17th
Tuesday Tara Takes to the Trike
As a photographer, it’s not always easy to get your subject to fully relax and give you their best smile. I think this dare is going to take care of that! For a full day, I’ll be dressed in full clown regalia and will be making my way around the studio on a tricycle.
The charity I am supporting is Blue Star Equiculture, a draft horse sanctuary and organic farm located at Burgundy Brook Farm in Palmer, Massachusetts. Blue Star Equiculture provides retired working horses a sanctuary and homeless working horses the opportunity to be useful and positively improve their lives, while bringing education, equine awareness, skills and healing to the community and the environment. My daughter loves her visits to this farm and this charity is near to her heart, as well as mine.
For more information on Blue Star Equiculture, please visit equiculture.org.
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Wednesday August 18th
Harvey Gets A Mr. T. Makeover
If I hit my goal of $500, I'll get the mohawk and of course, I'll dress the part. If I get to $1,000, I'll get both of my ears pierced. Two days later I'll be attending a wedding, and three weeks later I'll be in a wedding, so please donate to help my wife justify being seen with me in public.
My charity is Sibling Connections. In Massachusetts there are approximately 9,000 children in foster care separated from one or more of their siblings. Sibling Connections provides year-round programs for these children to spend time and strengthen bonds with siblings, including a week-long camp in August. It takes $500 to send one kid to camp.
I have volunteered with this organization for five years and have been a foster parent for almost two, and finally, I am putting my hair where my mouth is. (Wait... umm... well, you know what I mean...) So please give a couple of dollars (or even a bunch of dollars) and help me reach my goal and send a kid to camp.
Vegetarian Vs Chicken Wings - Who Will Reign Supreme?
I bet you are wondering “What’s the big deal about eating chicken wings?” The answer is nothing, unless you’ve been a vegetarian for the better part of two decades (minus one minor incident with a McDonald’s hamburger in the summer of 2006)! After many, many lunches of being dared to eat chicken wings, I am putting your money where my mouth is by accepting a dare to eat 6 Buffalo wings - 5 boneless and 1 bone in - in an effort to raise money for The Food Bank of Western Mass.* This will be no easy feat for me I assure you, but your generous donations for a very worthy cause will make it slightly more palatable and worth every bite.
*The Food Bank of Western Mass is a regional organization that provides food to nearly every food pantry, shelter, meal site, or other food assistance service in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire Counties. For more information, please visit their website: www.foodbankwma.org.
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Friday August 20th
VP Golfs in a Pink Skirt and Visor
To wrap up the week, but really happening on the 20th, I will take to the golf course. Like many Fridays before, I will playing a round at The Orchards Golf Club in South Hadley, MA, where I have been a member for over 10 years. However, this round will be a little bit different, because I'll be sporting a pink skirt and pink visor. Why pink? Because it is what my colleagues thought would be the most embarrassing for me but most importantly it is the color most associated with women’s cancer. Many of you may already know that my family has lost my sister Lisa and our sister in law Bridget to cancer, so it’s about them too.
