Each year, the organizing committee of the Make CF History Charity Classic looks for ways to further our purpose in raising awareness (and funds) for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Last year we were inspired by Team Colin, whose Team Captain Steve Lopez entered his team in honor of Colin Mong. Colin is a CF patient and is the son of a colleague of Steve's. Having Colin with us last year, and having a team with his namesake win the tournament, brought to light what our event weekend is truly all about.
And with that, inspired by Colin and Team Colin, the 2014 Make CF History Charity Classic will be honoring 14 "CF Champions" throughout the weekend. Each team will be playing for and dedicating their tournament to a CF patient - who we will be referring to as our "CF Champions". Each "CF Champion" will be a part of the pre-tournament team photos, as well as a ceremonial puck drop on Sunday before the play-out games to end the event.
In the weeks leading up to the event, we will be posting spotlight posts on each of our "Champions" so you can get to know them and their story, and see how meaningful it is to have them as an integral part of our event.
MakeCFHistory.com - A Campaign to Raise $1 Million for Cystic Fibrosis Research
A journey to finding a cure for Cystic Fibrosis and making CF a thing of the past!
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Saturday, June 15, 2013
16 Teams, 3 Days, 1 Goal: Make CF History
The 2013 Make CF History Charity Classic, our 3rd annual event, was everything I had envisioned that Sunday morning four years ago - 16 teams, coming together for a 3-day tournament weekend, all sharing in the one goal behind the Make CF History campaign: finding a cure for CF. For the first time, we had three full divisions to accommodate three different skill levels - with teams from Dayton, Cleveland, St. Clair, MI, and Columbus filling the divisions.
Fund Raising Perspective
This year we asked the players to fund raise instead of paying a flat team fee in order to participate. And fund raise they did - helping us raise over $51,000 as of the time of this writing, with more money still trickling in.
When I think of the weekend from this perspective, it illustrates one very important fact: although we were 16 different teams wearing 16 different jerseys (a formality in order to distinguish two teams from each other during the games), we were really one team - a team consisting of 235 players joined together to participate in the fight to find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. And for this, I am so very grateful for the players and their time and energy they put into being a part of our 2013 Make CF History Charity Classic. We will always be Team MakeCFHistory.
The Player Perspective


I wish every weekend was @MakeCFHistory classic!!
— Tyler Moats (@gafn11) June 12, 2013
Thank you players for all of your support and participation - without you there is no event, and we hope to see you all again next year!
And now, the rest of the story...
The Ceremonial Puck Drops
This year, we were blessed to have four very special people with us to drop pucks in our ceremonial opening face-offs to kick off our Friday night games. All four of our "VIP" guests brought to life the purpose of our weekend as they each are living with CF.

Thomas Mims (right), a Sports Journalism student from Kentucky, came all the way up from Lexington to join us.

Taylor Monturo (left) joined us with her parents from right here in Columbus.

The Lady from Mansfield, OH
At one point in the morning on Saturday, I received an email notification of a donation made on my player page from an "Iona Flores". I did not know of anyone by this name, and quickly wrote it off to someone who intended to make a donation to another player and made it to me in error. Later that afternoon, I walked into the lobby of the rink and noticed a lady at the check-in table talking with the staff from the CF Foundation. As I approached them, the lady turned to me and asked, "Are you Chad?" "Yes I am", I replied. "I am Iona Flora", she exclaimed as she reached to shake my hand. "You made a donation on my player page!", I countered. "Yes, I did.", she replied. I couldn't help but forgo a handshake to give Iona a big hug. She went on to tell us that she had found us on Facebook, and that she came down from Mansfield to be a part of our event. She also shared that she has two grandchildren living with CF in Texas. It is moments like these, and people like Iona, who make the Make CF History Charity Classic so special - it brings together people from all over (hockey fans or not) who share in our aspiration to find a cure for CF. And it is moments like these that make me question the 'fact' that CF effects only 30,000 people in the US - when it seems that most everyone I meet and know have a connection to CF. Thank you Iona for being there this weekend, and for making my weekend so special.The Kids Charity Game



Friends and family - new and old
The best part of organizing an event like the Make CF History Charity Classic is getting to see my friends and family, who come from near and far to be there. With that, I also get to meet so many incredible people who by the end of the weekend are my new found "family".
To our incredible Organizing Committee, all of the volunteers, the players, our sponsors, and to the
staff of the Chiller Ice Rink - I wish I could one-by-one shake
everyone's hand, give you all a hug, and thank you for making this year's 'charity classic' so special - and for joining Team MakeCFHistory.
We will be the generation that finds the cure for CF.
THANK YOU to everyone who supported the 2013 Make CF History Charity Classic!
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