2011 RhodySquash RI Open

Made it to the finals ... forizzle!

Weekend at Maddox ... not Bernie's #lamejoke

Smile needs some work

Last weekend, Gabe and I joined the legendary Ed Maddox at what we had come to know as "The Cape." It was, as always, an absolute pleasure to see old friends, discuss new experiences, and attempt -- ultimately to no avail -- to cure Maddox of his liberal leanings. While somewhat hesitant to get in the car without a helmet, Gabe eventually agreed to drive up with me, after we finished coaching the Saturday session of RhodySquash. We came to find out that "The Cape" is in fact Cotuit, a lovely seaside town. Despite a very late start, we arrived in the afternoon, and shot the s**t with Maddox for about an hour, after which we went to see Anonymous, the logical movie choice after a full term in Shakespeare and the Death of Kings. Dinner with a live band followed, and though we all tried to survive insipid Republican soundbites and watch the GOP foreign policy debate, we eventually hit the hay (under heated blankets I might add). The next morning, I tried to recreate a Choate breakfast for a Choate alum and teacher, but was too out of my element. If only I had a picture of the final product! Maddox gave us a tour of Cotuit, after which Gabe and I made the long trek home.

Jeffery Laikind visits

I had the pleasure of hosting Jeffery Laikind last week at my house! Originally, I planned the visit to catch up with Mr. Laikind post-graduation and show him RhodySquash, an organization which benefited immensely from his advice in our early, "I have no idea what I'm doing" stages. As Chip lovingly describes, he was a Choate Godfather to me, and his advice and wisdom consistently proved accurate. On Wednesday, I picked Mr. Laikind up from the Amtrak station, after which we had a nice lunch at a diner. We headed to TMS in what would prove a corroboration of Murphy's Law. First, the bus was 15 minutes late, prompting me to think that on the one day that we had a visitor, the transportation fell through. In addition, we ran into a student we rejected earlier this year. Though 25 minutes late, the actual program ran quite smoothly, and the kids responded extremely well to many of Mr. Laikind's stories of adversity from his childhood. That night, Mr. Laikind and I went to Thames Street Kitchen. RhodySquash and fundraising were the subjects of conversation, but we also had an opportunity to catch up on a more personal level. Mr. Laikind slept the night, and after an inspired breakfast of egg-sandwiches a la our alma mater -- Choate -- I drove Mr. Laikind back to Kingston and resumed the ever difficult task of fundraising!

The magic 15

Recruiting Board members has proved difficult. 15 doesn't seem like a big number. It is. Board growth has been stagnant. We have seven, myself included. I've been going for big names and big money. If StreetSquash has Mort Zuckerman, why can't we have Ruth Simmons? This rant amounts to one concern; I have always had the nagging fear that RhodySquash suffers from"small town fundraising syndrome." Compared to New York, there are only so many people, and even fewer play squash. As essentially a professional fundraiser, I begin the conversation with "squash is not a vegetable," before I can even explain the RhodySquash mission. That said, our job is not impossible. On more than one occasion, and correctly so, I've been reminded that Newport is the land of the rich, once home to the Vanderbilt's and Astor's. I'll eventually crack this fundraising cookie. In the meantime, we've already secured slightly over a half a year's budget!

So it's been awhile ...

This has been a pretty busy week for me re: RhodySquash. We've transitioned from recruiting kids to fundraising. Kids are number one, obviously. I couldn't raise money for an idea, however. Imagine me asking, "support the budget of a non -- but soon to be -- existent program." That's not how it works. As I've mentioned in the past, we have 13 enthusiastic and low income students from Thompson Middle School. Aside from implementing the mission, our Board has charged me with broadening the fundraising base beyond the generosity of a few families. To that end, I continue to fill out grants (though my court tennis doubles partner informed me that we we're unsuccessful with the RI Foundation) and have approached every credit union in the state. Next I'll hit up the law firms, and we'll go from there. We continue to plan for the 2011 RhodySquash RI Open for individual donations. In addition, I had a lovely lunch with Martha, the director of Universal Promise, and we exchanged ideas that mutually benefited both our nonprofits.


Also, having been inspired by Diners, Drive-in, and Dives, I went to Crazy Burger and it was totally underwhelming. Does Guy fake pleasure. On a price/satisfaction/convenience scale, I'd choose Five Guys any day!