December 19, 2024 • 30 mins
Mario Lemieux Foundation - Dedicated to funding cancer research and patient care, and supporting families in challenging medical situations
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
And welcome in. This is a public affairs program shedding
the light on the interest, issues and concerns of the
greater Pittsburgh Areiat. Good morning, My name is Johnny Heartwell.
Today's topic is the Mary Lemieux Foundation, dedicated to funding
cancer research, patient care, supporting families, and challenging medical situations.
And in studio is the executive director Drew Parrish. Good morning,
(00:26):
Good to see you again. How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I'm great, Johnny, good to see you all right.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Last time I saw you was in September, and that
was gearing up for the golf outing. Is that what
it was.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I was gearing up for our six point six k run.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Oh, that's what.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
It helped kick off the season.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
How to Go? How to Go?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
It was great. We had nearly four thousand participants come
down to the arena running the streets of Pittsburgh to
help kick off the season opener for the Penguins.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Okay, and now it's the end of the year, and
so you have something going on. Tell us everything we
need to know.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah, we've got a few things going on here at
the end of the year. A big thing right now
is our year end holiday solicitation campaign, where Mario and
Natalie Lemieux are matching all holiday gifts up to five
hundred thousand dollars through the end of the year. So
all your donations made, anybody sends in a check, anything
online is matched by Mario Natalie up to five hundred
thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
All right, and how do you do that?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
So if you go to Mario Lemue dot org, we
have an online donation forum right there, you can make
a donation and you can see the holiday letter from
Mario right on the website. Follow the links to make
a donation and all of that will be matched by
Mario Natalie.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
So it's funny if you just say the name Mario
in Pittsburgh, everybody knows who you're talking about. He has
done so much for this community. So it gets a
little confusing in what this organization is really all about.
So kind of fill us in on what you guys do.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Sure, and the Mary Lemue Foundation established way back in
nineteen ninety three, now going on to you're thirty two
here coming up? Who started based on cancer research when
Mario's battle with Hotchkins disease. So he back in the
early nineties with Hotchins disease. Since then, they started a
small golf tournament. I think that they charged twenty five
hundred dollars foursome. The goal was to have one event
(02:03):
to raise money for cancer research. Since then, we've now
gifted over forty million dollars to cancer research and patient
care here in Pittsburgh. We do things. We not only
have cancer research projects that we do a children's hospital
as well as UPMC home and Cancer center, but we
also do patient care projects, including our latest gift, which
was a Mario has aphib So we made a gift
(02:26):
to Allegheny Health Network for their Heart Rhythm Center.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
It's funny, unlaughing because anything that goes on with Mary
and we get the benefit. He does a voundation, he
raises money for that goal.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
And that's exactly it. Anything that's happened to their family,
they're all their personal experiences. They've turned around and made
a positive. So Mario had cancer, We've done all this
for cancer research. Mario Natalie Sun Austin was born prematurely,
spend seventy one days in the nick You they realized
they had nowhere for his siblings to go. While they
were visiting Austin.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And the Austin playrooms.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
And playrooms and that they were literally driving home from
that experience, and Natalie said, Tomario, we need to do
something about this. We should build playrooms and medical facilities.
And fast forward to now we have forty four playrooms
that we build in facilities in the Pittsburgh area and beyond.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
All right, So the Children's Home and the New Family Center,
is that also part of the foundation or is that
something different.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yes, they're a separate organization for us, but we support
them and we have our name is on the Lemu
Sibling Center. Our name is on the Lemu Family Center there.
That's sort of a place where families can go after
their stay at a hospital to sort of get used
to their new life. So there's rooms and kitchens there.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Oh. I'm a huge support of the Children's Home because
they do so much ye all free of charge. People
think it's it's almost it's it's unfortunately it's we have.
It's very similar to the Children's Hospital, but it's different.
It's because once kids are in like in the NICU unit,
(03:57):
and they're once they are leaving children Hospital, they they
then go to the Children's Home and almost like you know,
if you have a child who's either has challenges or
you know, is a premie. You know, you have people
who are able to teach the parents how to take
care of this child, and they do that and that,
(04:17):
and then they have adoption and everything else. They do
so much. So I'm a huge supporter.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
And that's exactly that's exactly right. It's those families who
maybe don't need to stay at the hospital anymore, but
they're not quite ready to go home, and they don't
know how to go home yet, so they're still there.
They're able to learn their new their new lifestyle there
and they can get that assistance that you were talking about.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Okay, Now, you're very active in the community, and obviously
there's a there's a synergy with the Penguins. What's the
relationship with the team?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Sure, we have so a lot of people think of
us in sort of lump the LEMU Foundation, the Pittsburgh
Penguins Foundation, and the Penguins altogether. We are three separate organizations,
but we work hand in hand together.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
You're a supporter that you're you're you're all.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
We all support each other, yes, and we have a
great relationship. As you know, Mario has sold his you know,
Majory already staken the team here a while ago, but
he's still a minority owner with the teams. We have
a great relationship with them. We do something when you.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Have a trophy, when you have a statue in front
of the place where you play, you're going to be associated.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
He's obviously synonymous with the Penguins, and you can't think
of them without Mario, and Mario without them in Pittsburgh'sburg
and all he's done for Pittsburgh and you know, saving
the team multiple times, so it's you know, you can't
think of the Penguins without Mario. So again, we have
a wonderful relationship and we have some big events that
we do with them, like the six point six K
that we just had. We have our big Ched Penguins
charity bags every year, usually in March, where we sell
(05:35):
sixty six hundred Duffel bags full of great Penguins memorabilia,
all all to benefit the Lemouth Foundation and the Penguins Foundation.
We work on that event together and we split the proceeds.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Okay, now let's not get too far away from you know,
the original message why you're here, So tell us everything
about the the final push because twenty twenty five is
going to be here in just a couple of days.
This year has just flown by.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
It's crazy how time flies these days. But yeah, we're
coming up on our year end holiday citation here where
we're accepting donations for our cancer research and patient care projects.
Mario and his wife Natalie will match all donations up
to five hundred thousand dollars through the end of the year.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Hold on, let me see if I have that half
a million dollars in my.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Bot right, But again, all everything helps you. You make
ten dollars, they're going to match that donation. So if
you're looking for a place to give your holiday donations
this year, just know that Mario Natalie will match whatever
you give.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
You also have an initiative that is going to start
at the beginning of the year. Tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yes, that's called the mariol Mu Foundation a Winter Challenge.
That's an event where we've had for about four or
five years now where we challenge people to sign up
and you can go to Mariolmu dot org and sign
up for our Winter Challenge. You can sign up and
then on January first, for sixty six days, we challenge
you to move sixty six miles. So you can walk,
you can run, you can bike, you can crawl, you
can however you want to go sixty six miles. You
(06:50):
hook up your watch tracker to our good Move app,
which you can find a link to on our website,
and we have a leaderboard on there that shows everyone
who's participating, and everyone who hits that sixty six miles
is entered to win prizes.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Can I do it on the treadmill?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
You sure can. You can do it on the peloton, treadmill,
any anywhere you want to do it, as long as
you're tracking it and linking up with our app. And
then so we have a great prizes. We have Penguins tickets,
we have signed Penguins jerseys, we have Mariol the MW
Foundation apparel, all kinds of prizes.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Now, ten dollars get you in the drawings. Can you
donate more?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
You sure can. And in that process, once you pay
ten dollars to register, they'll ask you if you want
to make an indditional donation as well. All goes to
the Mario the Mew Foundation.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Now this day, this started what three or four years ago?
You said, so, wow, yeah, how did you come up
with this.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
So it was actually COVID. COVID was the first year
we started this. It was a way to sort of
stay relevant over the winner and keep people active. And
it was that sort of time looking back, which such
a crazy time back then, but we were looking for
new in different ways to do things online yet you know,
keep people active and keep the foundation sort of in
people's minds.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
And so once COVID and the coronavirus was kind of
over and done with, you continued.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
We've continued it to this year.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Yeah, you've seen success, success, Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
It's a great We like to have some things where
you know, it's it's not too much to participate, and
people donate that ten dollars, they know it's going to
a great cause and they can feel part of the
Mario mw Foundation and what we do.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Okay, so how can people sign up?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
So they can go to Mariolmue dot org now and
sign up for the Winter Challenge again ten dollars and
then the challenge itself starts on January first and runs
through sixty six days through March seventh.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
All Right, if I can't get the distance, what happens?
Then nothing happens. But We encourage everybody to do that
and don't get a call from Mario. Come on, you
could do this.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
You'll get some encouragement from us through emails and through
social media. You'll definitely get some encouragement. But again it's
just trying to get people to stay active and it's
a good way to support the foundation.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
And let people know what you do and you know
and throughout the year. In fact, with the new year,
what are some of your plans? So what are some
of the things that you have going on in the
new year.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, so we're continuing all of our research projects. And
again we talk about research a lot at the the
MW Foundation and sometimes it's not a sexy thing to
talk about.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Well I want to know, So what are some of
the things that you do for.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yes, sir, So we have a great number of projects
going on.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
So we have.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Our latest project was at Children's Hospital at Pittsburgh where
we gave two and a half million dollars to support
to basically bring all of the pediatric cancer research under
one umbrella at Children's Hospital. So again we were trying
to keep the best researchers here in Pittsburgh. We're trying
to keep the best talent here in Pittsburgh, and we're
trying to do clinical trials and research here in Pittsburgh
(09:25):
so our families don't have to travel. So again, it's
easy to sit here and we talk about, you know,
what people want to give money to. We have our
Austin's playrooms, which is a nice tangible thing that people
can see and they can go into a hospital and
see a playroom there. But a lot of times you
can't see what's happening with research.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yeah, but I think it's vitally important that you have
the research and that's why we do it. And then
Pittsburgh is known for the research, and I'm proud of
the fact, proud of the fact that Pittsburgh is a
forerunner of this research. And of course there isn't a
Pittsburgh alive that isn't proud of what Mario has done
for the city, aside from all the cancer research and
(10:03):
everything that he does with the local hospitals and things
like that. So I think it's vital that people know
that research is done here in Pittsburgh and that we're
a forerunner. We are the forefront when it comes to research.
So I think it's important that you tell that tale.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Yeah, the LEMU Foundation we want to be at the
forefront of that, and not only that, we try to
take it to the next level. We try to fund
research what isn't usually funded. So there's a lot even
within pediatric cancer research, there's a percentage, let's say, fifteen
percent of pediatric cancer patients who don't really have any
hope right now. There's not any cure, there's not any
treatment for the type of cancer that they have. So
(10:37):
we have some research projects that focus on those. So
again there's not a lot of so we can tell
those people, you know, they don't have to go home
with no hope. There's at least some research being done
on their type of cancer in what that is. So
that's you know, that's what we try to do with
the Lemu Foundation.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
All Right, we're talking about some of the things that
you want to accomplish in twenty twenty five, So tell
us more about some of the fundraisers that you have
planned for next year.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Sure, we have a large number of fundraisers throughout the year.
Our big ones are Mario's Fantasy Hockey Camp that we
do every you know, either in February or March, where
we bring seventy two guys in from around the world
to skate with Mario's friends and a former pros and
it's a cool experience. That's one of our bigger dollar
amount fundraisers.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
And when you say friends, these are world famous hockey players.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
They are, Yes, they are. We have like Ti Domi
comes in every year, and Paul Coffee comes to the
camp every year, and Brian Trottier and Joe Mullen and
those kind of guys who you know, we're just fantastic
hockey players and they're just equally as great human beings.
And these guys get to come in and spend five
days with them in the locker room and have a
drink at the bar at night and they're telling stories.
So we have seventy two guys that come in really
(11:41):
from around the world for that experience every year.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
All right, so how do you sign up for the
for the Fantasy Camp.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So our Fantasy Camp has like a wait list of
like three hundred people on it. It's a nice Yeah,
it's crazy, but it's it's a big dollar commitment and
it's a big you know, it's a big time commitment
as well. So again and then we have our other
seventy two guys. We have sixty that come back from
last year. We have guys that keep coming back, So
we take very few people off the wait list every year.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
When you have somebody like Mario Lemieux that will that
will attract quite a few not only those superstars coming
into town, but also people wanting to participate and meet
those people.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, and we try to give them like an a
true NHL experience for those five days what like what,
So we bring them in. We have a full equipment staff.
They stay at the hotel so that all of the
pros and Mario will stay at the hotel with them.
Like Mario stays and lives in Swickly, but he comes
down and stays at the Marriot for five nights, but
he rides the bus. They eat dinner together, they do
things as a team. We give them full Penguin's gear
(12:35):
and apparel and equipment, and we full equipment staff. We
move their bag everywhere, we set their locker room up everywhere.
It's really a cool thing, and we have so many
guys that just keep coming back. We thought it was
a one time, once in a lifetime kind of experience,
but we have guys that continue to come back year
after a year, and the best part of it for
a lot of them is that it supports the Menu
Foundation so that all those funds that they're paying do
(12:57):
go directly to our our cancer research projects.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
We're talking to you Parish, executive director of the Mary
Lemieux Foundation. For those just tuning in, just tell us
everything that kind of give us a snapshot of what
exactly what you guys do.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
And so we our main project is the raising funds
for cancer research is what we were founded on. But
since then we've added some other patient care projects as
well as our Austin's Playrooms where we did we build
playrooms for children and families and medical facilities. We have
to date forty four playrooms, not only in western Pennsylvania
in the Pittsburgh region, but we also have some military
(13:31):
playrooms across the country, and we're sort of expanding our
circle of playrooms to larger parts of Pennsylvania. Our latest
play room was in upmc Harrisburg was our latest playroom
that we opened, So we're sort of expanding our circle
a little bit outside of Western PA.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
That's great. Now, let's also remind everybody that there's a
matching opportunity if you donate, so tell us everything we
need to know about that.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yes, this holiday season we do our annual year in
holiday solicitation. This year Mario and Natalie are matching all
holiday all holiday donations up to five hundred thousand dollars
through December thirty first. So any honey dollar amount you
give to the Lemu Foundation any way you choose to give,
they'll match that money.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Okay, And there's also an incentive at the beginning of
the year. You can sign up. Now what is that
all about?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Sure, you can sign up now. It's called the Mariolmu
Foundation Winner Challenge and it starts January first and runs
through March seventh, So that's sixty six days and we're
challenging you to run, walk, move sixty six miles and
sixty six days. Anyone who hits that sixty six miles
has then entered to win prizes and we I think
we have about thirty prizes that we give out, including
Penguins tickets, sign jersey, sign pucks, a lot of stuff
(14:38):
from the Penguins, a lot of Lemu Foundation apparel, things
like that. But you know, if you want to walk, run, bike, ride,
canoe row anyway you can track sixty six miles, we'll
take it as long as you're linked up to our
We use what's called the good Move app. But if
you go to mariolimu dot org, we have a link
right there to sign up and it starts January first
and runs for sixty six days.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
All right, you can sign up. Now. We talked a
little bit about research and then the fantasy camp. What
else do you have planned for twenty twenty five?
Speaker 2 (15:05):
So we do our Big Austin's Playroom Luncheon event which
we do every year in May, where we have four
hundred mostly women come for a lunch and auction event.
That is a table captain event actually, so all of
our tables are sold individually by the table captain, so
you basically have to know someone to get into that event.
But you can find more information about that on our
website as well at mariolmu dot org. We do our
(15:26):
six point six k event each fall with the start
of the Penguin season. So next season we'll have our
six point six k run again. I think it'll be
year fourteen next year already.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Which does that just happened a couple of months ago?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
And that just happened in October when we kicked off
the season where we operate that event with the Pittsburgh
Penguins Foundation and we split the proceeds. Usually we have
about four thousand participants that come out run the streets
of Pittsburgh to kick off the Penguin season. Mario's at
the finish line every year giving high fives the finishers.
He loves that event. Every year. It's the first thing
he puts on his calendar. He shows up and he's
(15:56):
at the finish line given a high five to everyone
who finishes.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Golf outings.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Golf outings, we do multiple golf outings throughout the year.
One of our big one is our Wounded Heroes Golf
event that we do in September each year, which was
started to benefit all of our military playrooms that we have,
but we some of the proceeds from that go to
our Austin's Playroom project as well as some other local
military charities that we work with. It's about the Warrior Foundation,
Ventures and Training with a purchase Purpose which is John
(16:21):
Colb Charity and also Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs. They
provide some medical service dogs to our veterans here locally.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
How much input does Mario give you, guys?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
What is the tremendous amount. Yes, Mario Natalie are on
our board, all our board meetings and all our planning sessions. Again,
everything we do is based on their personal experiences. So
Mario Natalie both huge golfers, so we do a lot
of golf events that they participate in, and everything we
do they have a hand in. So it's Mario with
the hockey camp and the six point six k run
(16:51):
and Natalie with the luncheon and our golf events and
things like that. She's just their very hands on and
very very involved in making sure things are at Mario
the muse quality.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And his wife are part of the board. How big
of an organization are you.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Comparatively, We're not that big. We have a full five
people in a full time staff, so we all wear
a lot of hats and do a lot of different things.
I've worked there for twenty five years, worked up front,
started as an intern, and have worked my way up
since then. But back in the day, we just did
the big celebrity golf tournament at Nevillwood where we had
forty to fifty thousand people over four days and that's
(17:25):
the only thing we did back in those days. Now
we do fundraisers throughout the year, work with all kinds
of organizations that raise money for us. Now, but it's
turned into I don't know sure we envisioned the foundation
becoming what it has, but yeah, we're so happy a
to what we've accomplished.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
How much how much money do you think you've raised
over the years.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
We say we've gifted forty million dollars to cancer research
patient care projects, including the Austin's Playrooms, which the playrooms themselves,
which we estimate have impacted, you know, over one point
five million children and families just the playrooms alone. So
you start thinking about things like that, the number of
people that are in and out of our playrooms, the
number of people that are at hill And Cancer Center
(18:04):
that are on the fourth floor is the Mario the
U Center for Blood Cancers that we have that we established,
I think in twenty twelve, where we have a whole
floor in Hillman we're dedicated to blood blood cancers for research,
clinical trials, and patient care that we started back in
twenty twelve. So all the people that go through that floor,
the impact that we've made there.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
And the organization has five full time employees. Correct, that's
that's that's a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
It's a lot, it's a challenge, but we enjoy it.
We enjoy it. We have three of us to have
I've been here for over twenty five years, so it's
something that we look for that. The job means a
lot to us because we know it's for a great cause.
We come in every day and work.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Guard. Do you need volunteers? Are you accepting volunteers?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
We do. We have a number of events that we
need volunteers. You can sign up on our website at
mariolmu dot org to be a volunteer. We need volunteers
for our golf events. We need volunteers for the six
point six K where we have over three hundred volunteers
for that event. We need volunteers for our hockey camp.
We have volunteers for all kind of different things. So yes,
if you're interested in volunteer with us, you can go
to mariolmuw dot org and sign up. How much of
a commitment it depends on the event, but you know
(19:05):
we're looking for It depends on what people are looking for.
But the easiest way is that six point six k
is kind of do something for us where we have
a multiple different jobs you can sign up for for
whatever it's your schedule and what you're able to do.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Do you get the same volunteers year in year out.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
We get a lot of familiar face some new faces though,
for sure, but we like to have a lot of
familiar faces. I think the people that come to our
events recognize our volunteers, so that's always nice that and
we like to have I mean, we're we're in Pittsburgh,
so people we like to see, you know, people that
you know, and we're such a small small town, big town,
big city, small town feel, so we'd like to have
that familiarity with our volunteers.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
So you've been there for twenty five years. How long
has the foundation been around?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Since ninety three? It was started but very small back
in the day and they just did a small golf tournament.
Really amped up in ninety eight when they did the
Big Mario, the new celebrity invitational golf event at Nevillwood,
and then since then we've sort of transitioned into all
the things we do now.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
So you raise all this money throughout the year and
how is earmarked two different projects and things like that.
How is that done.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
It depends on the event, but mostly things go generally
to the Mariel THEMW Foundation. Exception to that might be
events that raise money specifically for Austin's playrooms, and that
money might be earmarked for a specific playroom or maintenance
for our playrooms. What we found is with the forty
four playrooms we've gifted, we don't just give them and
gift them and walk away. We continue to maintain those rooms.
So if they need new carpet, they need new flooring,
(20:26):
they need new paint, they need new toys, electronics and
TVs and things like that, we continue to replenish and
restock those items for them. So all of a sudden,
you've got forty four playrooms that you've got to maintain
and keep. It's turned into quite the big project where
now we do some separate fundraisers specifically for our playrooms.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
In this game, you and your staff taken care of all.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
We have a staff person that does all of our
Austin's playrooms. Again, we're Karen is. Our is our person
who does our Austin's playrooms, Karen's race and she's actually
retiring here soon. In the next couple of months. So
we're actually replacing her with a new Austin's Playroom person
who'll be totally dedicated to just playrooms, building new and a.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Full time job just doing that.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
We build on new rooms and then maintaining the existing ones.
It's a huge jump.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
And so is there plans to increase the amount of
Austin playrooms.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
It's finding the right Yes, we'll continue to build rooms.
We try to build at least one or two a year,
but it's working and finding the right facilities and finding
the right space within those facilities is always the challenge.
That's why our scope is getting a little large.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
We'd be nice to have sixty six. That would be
a great number. I mean that number hard to maintain,
but you know, you're you're almost there.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Going back to volunteers for Austin's Playrooms is something we're
trying to implement of getting volunteers for each playroom where
they can sort of go in maybe quarterly or twice
a year to sort of check the status of that playroom.
Doesn't need toys, does it need this, and doesn't need
electronics updates and things like that is something that we're
trying to implement with volunteers.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
We're talking to Drew Parrish, executive director of Mario Lemieux Foundation. Again,
for somebody who's just tuning in, tell us a little
bit about the organization.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Yeah, Mary Lemue Foundation. We raise money for cancer research
and patient care. We've gifted over forty million dollars for
those projects here since nineteen ninety three. So we're proud
of our support here in Pittsburgh through our fundraising events
and throw impact that we've made.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
And again let's tell people about the last minute donations
that people can to donate for the foundation till the
end of the year, and Mario and his wife will
we'll match everything.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Sure through the end of the year December thirty first,
Mario Natalie will match all of our year in holidays
holiday donations up to five hundred thousand dollars. So any amount,
anyway you give it, well, Mario Natalie will match that
amount and all will go to our cancer research and
patient care projects. And we're also doing our Winter Challenge
event which starts January first. You can register now. It
starts January first, runs for sixty six days, and we're
(22:45):
trying to encourage people to move sixty six miles over
those sixty six days. You hit that sixty six miles,
you'll be entered to win great prizes, including Penguins tickets,
signed jerseys, Mario Lemu Foundation apparel, things like that. But
you can run, walk, bike, canoe, crawl, peloton, elliptical, anything
you want to do. As long as you hit that
(23:06):
sixty six miles, you're eligible to win prizes.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
What is the one thing you want people to know
about your organization that maybe people aren't aware of.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
We have big goals, but we want to do those
big goals here in Pittsburgh. I think that's that's our
what we want to do. We want to help people
here in Pittsburgh first, and then we want to we
want to do all of our research here. We want
to help our families here, and then we want to
make that impact where we can expand to outside Pittsburgh.
We want people to come here. We want people to
come here to Children's for clinical trials and things like that,
(23:34):
and we want people to come to Hillman because it's
such a great facility for what we offer. So we
want to do those things in Pittsburgh because Pittsburgh means
so much to Mario into us.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Tell us your relationship with the Penguins.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
So, yeah, we have a great relationship with the Penguins. Obviously,
you think of the Penguins, you think of Mario that
mew and vice versa. We do a lot of different
fundraisers with them and the Penguin Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation. We
are three separate organizations, but we work in sync together.
Penguins Foundation has there our own things youth hockey and
wellness programs and things like that. We focus on cancel research,
(24:06):
patient care and building playrooms and medical facilities.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
All right, So you do the fantasy camp, you do
the golf outings, you do the fun walk and run.
What is the what is the most time consuming for you?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Oh, it depends on the time of year. These days
now it just kind of goes one thing after the next.
But like, yeah, like so our hockey camp is usually
in March or February, so usually I'm planning that in
September and we're starting to order jerseys and things like that,
so I'm usually six months ahead of things. But it's
just sort of that planning. We have a pretty good
calendar going on now. But one of the things we
(24:40):
love to do is work with people who are doing
golf outings or doing other things for us. So we
have a number of families that do outings. Every year.
We have our friends Justin and Angwise they do a
family outing and honor of Justin's mother who passed away.
They raise, you know, over ten thousand dollars every year
for the foundation and they've been doing it for coming
up on fifteen years. So it's working with people like
(25:01):
that who put on events, do all the hard work
and donate money to the LEMU Foundation is some of
the fun stuff that we do.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
And so when it comes to golf outings, how how
much work goes into into those.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
It's for the way we do it a lot. We
try to make it a great event. We try to
give them a great gift package when they come in.
We work with some great golf courses. Are Wounded here
as event is at Allegheny Country Club. We have a
Club sixty six event which we haven't even talked about,
but our Club sixty six is our Young Professionals group,
so we have a golf outing there at Diamond Run
every year. So that's our Club sixty six is our
(25:39):
Young Professionals where we are encouraging younger professionals to not
necessarily give to the LEMW Foundation right now, but just
sort of make them aware of what we do, so
as they grow up and come into their profession and
choose what charities they're going to support, they're aware of
the them new foundation. So Club sixty six we started
right before COVID in twenty nineteen, based on networking events
(26:00):
and happy hour events, so we suffered a little bit
through the COVID time most organizations did. Yeah, but since
then we still we still are having events now and
we started this golf outing a few years ago. That's
raising good money for the LEMU Foundation.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
You obviously have a fantastic relationship with the Penguins, which
makes sense. Are there any other organizations or companies that
are big supporters of the Mary Lemineux Foundation.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah, easy answer to that is, you know, high Mark
and UPMC are big supporters of the foundation. High Mark
is a title of the six point six k run,
but we are good partners with them, so they support
a lot of our events. And we obviously have some
major gifts to both Allegheny Health Network and UPMC.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
But the small gifts also make a difference.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Oh, they do, They certainly do. And that's again that's
what we were founded on. People making small gifts is
really what matters. And there's no gift that's too small.
All of it contributes, all of it helps children and
families here in Pittsburgh, and we couldn't do it without
those gifts.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
All right, we only have a couple of minutes left,
so let's talk about how somebody can give. And there's
also a bone us at the end, tell us about that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Right now, through the end of the year is our
holiday year end holidays donation time, So if you're looking
to make a year end donation, you can go to
Mariolimue dot org make a donation to the LEMU Foundation
and Mario Natalie l MU will match that donation up
to five hundred thousand dollars through the end of the year.
So any donation made any way possible through check, going
to our website to using our online donation form, all
(27:22):
those funds will be matched by Mario Natalie the MEU
up to five hundred thousands. You have a goal, will
we try to raise five hundred thousand dollars. That's that's
sort of the goal every year and it's I think
we started this about four years ago with Mario Natalie
doing this match. So every year they're willing to do
this and it's such a great commitment from them. It's
a good motivation for people to donate.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Twenty five dollars, fifty dollars all get matched by Mario
and Natalie, so which is all yeah, that does to cost.
And then starting on you can sign up well now
but the beginning on January first tell us about the.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Yes, the Mario Lemue Foundation Winner Challenge. You can sign
up now, but it starts January first and runs through
March seventh, which is sixty six days, and we're challenging
you to run, walk, move sixty six miles in sixty
six days and then you'll be eligible to win prizes
if you hit that sixty six miles. We have some
great prizes, Penguins tickets, sign jerseys, Mary Lemux Foundation, and
(28:13):
Penguins apparel. All you got to do is hit that
sixty six miles. And again, you can use your peloton,
you can use your elliptical, you can run walk any
way you want to do. It will count those miles
and you just got to get signed up on our app.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
It's not even the new year, and already you're busy
for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Oh, we're ready. I'm actually planning some events for twenty
twenty six already.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
So that's awes.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Yeah, that's all.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Mary Lemoux Foundation, dedicated to funding cancer research, patient care,
and supporting families and challenging medical situations. You do, guys,
You guys do a fantastic job. Thank you for everything
that you do and everything that Mario has done for
this CITI. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Thank you for having me really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Drew Parrish, Executive Director, thank you so much. Once again.
If you have any comments, concern, or an idea for
a future program, please email us from this radio station's website.
I'm Johnny Heartwell, thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
When your car is making a strange noise, no matter
what it is, you can't just pretend it's not happening.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
That's an interesting sound.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
It's like your mental health. If you're struggling and feeling overwhelmed,
it's important to do something about it. It can be
as simple as talking to someone in your community or
just taking a deep, calming breath.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
When you need it.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Nice for mental health resources check out Loveyourmind Today dot org.
At Loveyourmind Today dot org, you'll find information that may
help you get through a tough time, things like tips
for dealing with stress, how to navigate difficulties like financial worries, anger,
substance use, and more. You can also find real stories
of how people navigated their own mental health challenges, because
(29:58):
once you start to address the problem, you can go
so much further. Visit loveyomindtoday dot org. That's loveyomind Today
dot org, brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health
Institute and the AD Council
And welcome in. This is a public affairs program shedding
the light on the interest, issues and concerns of the
greater Pittsburgh Areiat. Good morning, My name is Johnny Heartwell.
Today's topic is the Mary Lemieux Foundation, dedicated to funding
cancer research, patient care, supporting families, and challenging medical situations.
And in studio is the executive director Drew Parrish. Good morning,
(00:26):
Good to see you again. How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I'm great, Johnny, good to see you all right.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Last time I saw you was in September, and that
was gearing up for the golf outing. Is that what
it was.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I was gearing up for our six point six k run.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Oh, that's what.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
It helped kick off the season.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
How to Go? How to Go?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
It was great. We had nearly four thousand participants come
down to the arena running the streets of Pittsburgh to
help kick off the season opener for the Penguins.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Okay, and now it's the end of the year, and
so you have something going on. Tell us everything we
need to know.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah, we've got a few things going on here at
the end of the year. A big thing right now
is our year end holiday solicitation campaign, where Mario and
Natalie Lemieux are matching all holiday gifts up to five
hundred thousand dollars through the end of the year. So
all your donations made, anybody sends in a check, anything
online is matched by Mario Natalie up to five hundred
thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
All right, and how do you do that?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
So if you go to Mario Lemue dot org, we
have an online donation forum right there, you can make
a donation and you can see the holiday letter from
Mario right on the website. Follow the links to make
a donation and all of that will be matched by
Mario Natalie.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
So it's funny if you just say the name Mario
in Pittsburgh, everybody knows who you're talking about. He has
done so much for this community. So it gets a
little confusing in what this organization is really all about.
So kind of fill us in on what you guys do.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Sure, and the Mary Lemue Foundation established way back in
nineteen ninety three, now going on to you're thirty two
here coming up? Who started based on cancer research when
Mario's battle with Hotchkins disease. So he back in the
early nineties with Hotchins disease. Since then, they started a
small golf tournament. I think that they charged twenty five
hundred dollars foursome. The goal was to have one event
(02:03):
to raise money for cancer research. Since then, we've now
gifted over forty million dollars to cancer research and patient
care here in Pittsburgh. We do things. We not only
have cancer research projects that we do a children's hospital
as well as UPMC home and Cancer center, but we
also do patient care projects, including our latest gift, which
was a Mario has aphib So we made a gift
(02:26):
to Allegheny Health Network for their Heart Rhythm Center.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
It's funny, unlaughing because anything that goes on with Mary
and we get the benefit. He does a voundation, he
raises money for that goal.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
And that's exactly it. Anything that's happened to their family,
they're all their personal experiences. They've turned around and made
a positive. So Mario had cancer, We've done all this
for cancer research. Mario Natalie Sun Austin was born prematurely,
spend seventy one days in the nick You they realized
they had nowhere for his siblings to go. While they
were visiting Austin.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And the Austin playrooms.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
And playrooms and that they were literally driving home from
that experience, and Natalie said, Tomario, we need to do
something about this. We should build playrooms and medical facilities.
And fast forward to now we have forty four playrooms
that we build in facilities in the Pittsburgh area and beyond.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
All right, So the Children's Home and the New Family Center,
is that also part of the foundation or is that
something different.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yes, they're a separate organization for us, but we support
them and we have our name is on the Lemu
Sibling Center. Our name is on the Lemu Family Center there.
That's sort of a place where families can go after
their stay at a hospital to sort of get used
to their new life. So there's rooms and kitchens there.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Oh. I'm a huge support of the Children's Home because
they do so much ye all free of charge. People
think it's it's almost it's it's unfortunately it's we have.
It's very similar to the Children's Hospital, but it's different.
It's because once kids are in like in the NICU unit,
(03:57):
and they're once they are leaving children Hospital, they they
then go to the Children's Home and almost like you know,
if you have a child who's either has challenges or
you know, is a premie. You know, you have people
who are able to teach the parents how to take
care of this child, and they do that and that,
(04:17):
and then they have adoption and everything else. They do
so much. So I'm a huge supporter.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
And that's exactly that's exactly right. It's those families who
maybe don't need to stay at the hospital anymore, but
they're not quite ready to go home, and they don't
know how to go home yet, so they're still there.
They're able to learn their new their new lifestyle there
and they can get that assistance that you were talking about.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Okay, Now, you're very active in the community, and obviously
there's a there's a synergy with the Penguins. What's the
relationship with the team?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Sure, we have so a lot of people think of
us in sort of lump the LEMU Foundation, the Pittsburgh
Penguins Foundation, and the Penguins altogether. We are three separate organizations,
but we work hand in hand together.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
You're a supporter that you're you're you're all.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
We all support each other, yes, and we have a
great relationship. As you know, Mario has sold his you know,
Majory already staken the team here a while ago, but
he's still a minority owner with the teams. We have
a great relationship with them. We do something when you.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Have a trophy, when you have a statue in front
of the place where you play, you're going to be associated.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
He's obviously synonymous with the Penguins, and you can't think
of them without Mario, and Mario without them in Pittsburgh'sburg
and all he's done for Pittsburgh and you know, saving
the team multiple times, so it's you know, you can't
think of the Penguins without Mario. So again, we have
a wonderful relationship and we have some big events that
we do with them, like the six point six K
that we just had. We have our big Ched Penguins
charity bags every year, usually in March, where we sell
(05:35):
sixty six hundred Duffel bags full of great Penguins memorabilia,
all all to benefit the Lemouth Foundation and the Penguins Foundation.
We work on that event together and we split the proceeds.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Okay, now let's not get too far away from you know,
the original message why you're here, So tell us everything
about the the final push because twenty twenty five is
going to be here in just a couple of days.
This year has just flown by.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
It's crazy how time flies these days. But yeah, we're
coming up on our year end holiday citation here where
we're accepting donations for our cancer research and patient care projects.
Mario and his wife Natalie will match all donations up
to five hundred thousand dollars through the end of the year.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Hold on, let me see if I have that half
a million dollars in my.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Bot right, But again, all everything helps you. You make
ten dollars, they're going to match that donation. So if
you're looking for a place to give your holiday donations
this year, just know that Mario Natalie will match whatever
you give.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
You also have an initiative that is going to start
at the beginning of the year. Tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yes, that's called the mariol Mu Foundation a Winter Challenge.
That's an event where we've had for about four or
five years now where we challenge people to sign up
and you can go to Mariolmu dot org and sign
up for our Winter Challenge. You can sign up and
then on January first, for sixty six days, we challenge
you to move sixty six miles. So you can walk,
you can run, you can bike, you can crawl, you
can however you want to go sixty six miles. You
(06:50):
hook up your watch tracker to our good Move app,
which you can find a link to on our website,
and we have a leaderboard on there that shows everyone
who's participating, and everyone who hits that sixty six miles
is entered to win prizes.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Can I do it on the treadmill?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
You sure can. You can do it on the peloton, treadmill,
any anywhere you want to do it, as long as
you're tracking it and linking up with our app. And
then so we have a great prizes. We have Penguins tickets,
we have signed Penguins jerseys, we have Mariol the MW
Foundation apparel, all kinds of prizes.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Now, ten dollars get you in the drawings. Can you
donate more?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
You sure can. And in that process, once you pay
ten dollars to register, they'll ask you if you want
to make an indditional donation as well. All goes to
the Mario the Mew Foundation.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Now this day, this started what three or four years ago?
You said, so, wow, yeah, how did you come up
with this.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
So it was actually COVID. COVID was the first year
we started this. It was a way to sort of
stay relevant over the winner and keep people active. And
it was that sort of time looking back, which such
a crazy time back then, but we were looking for
new in different ways to do things online yet you know,
keep people active and keep the foundation sort of in
people's minds.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
And so once COVID and the coronavirus was kind of
over and done with, you continued.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
We've continued it to this year.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Yeah, you've seen success, success, Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
It's a great We like to have some things where
you know, it's it's not too much to participate, and
people donate that ten dollars, they know it's going to
a great cause and they can feel part of the
Mario mw Foundation and what we do.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Okay, so how can people sign up?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
So they can go to Mariolmue dot org now and
sign up for the Winter Challenge again ten dollars and
then the challenge itself starts on January first and runs
through sixty six days through March seventh.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
All Right, if I can't get the distance, what happens?
Then nothing happens. But We encourage everybody to do that
and don't get a call from Mario. Come on, you
could do this.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
You'll get some encouragement from us through emails and through
social media. You'll definitely get some encouragement. But again it's
just trying to get people to stay active and it's
a good way to support the foundation.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
And let people know what you do and you know
and throughout the year. In fact, with the new year,
what are some of your plans? So what are some
of the things that you have going on in the
new year.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, so we're continuing all of our research projects. And
again we talk about research a lot at the the
MW Foundation and sometimes it's not a sexy thing to
talk about.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Well I want to know, So what are some of
the things that you do for.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yes, sir, So we have a great number of projects
going on.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
So we have.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Our latest project was at Children's Hospital at Pittsburgh where
we gave two and a half million dollars to support
to basically bring all of the pediatric cancer research under
one umbrella at Children's Hospital. So again we were trying
to keep the best researchers here in Pittsburgh. We're trying
to keep the best talent here in Pittsburgh, and we're
trying to do clinical trials and research here in Pittsburgh
(09:25):
so our families don't have to travel. So again, it's
easy to sit here and we talk about, you know,
what people want to give money to. We have our
Austin's playrooms, which is a nice tangible thing that people
can see and they can go into a hospital and
see a playroom there. But a lot of times you
can't see what's happening with research.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yeah, but I think it's vitally important that you have
the research and that's why we do it. And then
Pittsburgh is known for the research, and I'm proud of
the fact, proud of the fact that Pittsburgh is a
forerunner of this research. And of course there isn't a
Pittsburgh alive that isn't proud of what Mario has done
for the city, aside from all the cancer research and
(10:03):
everything that he does with the local hospitals and things
like that. So I think it's vital that people know
that research is done here in Pittsburgh and that we're
a forerunner. We are the forefront when it comes to research.
So I think it's important that you tell that tale.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Yeah, the LEMU Foundation we want to be at the
forefront of that, and not only that, we try to
take it to the next level. We try to fund
research what isn't usually funded. So there's a lot even
within pediatric cancer research, there's a percentage, let's say, fifteen
percent of pediatric cancer patients who don't really have any
hope right now. There's not any cure, there's not any
treatment for the type of cancer that they have. So
(10:37):
we have some research projects that focus on those. So
again there's not a lot of so we can tell
those people, you know, they don't have to go home
with no hope. There's at least some research being done
on their type of cancer in what that is. So
that's you know, that's what we try to do with
the Lemu Foundation.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
All Right, we're talking about some of the things that
you want to accomplish in twenty twenty five, So tell
us more about some of the fundraisers that you have
planned for next year.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Sure, we have a large number of fundraisers throughout the year.
Our big ones are Mario's Fantasy Hockey Camp that we
do every you know, either in February or March, where
we bring seventy two guys in from around the world
to skate with Mario's friends and a former pros and
it's a cool experience. That's one of our bigger dollar
amount fundraisers.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
And when you say friends, these are world famous hockey players.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
They are, Yes, they are. We have like Ti Domi
comes in every year, and Paul Coffee comes to the
camp every year, and Brian Trottier and Joe Mullen and
those kind of guys who you know, we're just fantastic
hockey players and they're just equally as great human beings.
And these guys get to come in and spend five
days with them in the locker room and have a
drink at the bar at night and they're telling stories.
So we have seventy two guys that come in really
(11:41):
from around the world for that experience every year.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
All right, so how do you sign up for the
for the Fantasy Camp.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So our Fantasy Camp has like a wait list of
like three hundred people on it. It's a nice Yeah,
it's crazy, but it's it's a big dollar commitment and
it's a big you know, it's a big time commitment
as well. So again and then we have our other
seventy two guys. We have sixty that come back from
last year. We have guys that keep coming back, So
we take very few people off the wait list every year.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
When you have somebody like Mario Lemieux that will that
will attract quite a few not only those superstars coming
into town, but also people wanting to participate and meet
those people.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, and we try to give them like an a
true NHL experience for those five days what like what,
So we bring them in. We have a full equipment staff.
They stay at the hotel so that all of the
pros and Mario will stay at the hotel with them.
Like Mario stays and lives in Swickly, but he comes
down and stays at the Marriot for five nights, but
he rides the bus. They eat dinner together, they do
things as a team. We give them full Penguin's gear
(12:35):
and apparel and equipment, and we full equipment staff. We
move their bag everywhere, we set their locker room up everywhere.
It's really a cool thing, and we have so many
guys that just keep coming back. We thought it was
a one time, once in a lifetime kind of experience,
but we have guys that continue to come back year
after a year, and the best part of it for
a lot of them is that it supports the Menu
Foundation so that all those funds that they're paying do
(12:57):
go directly to our our cancer research projects.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
We're talking to you Parish, executive director of the Mary
Lemieux Foundation. For those just tuning in, just tell us
everything that kind of give us a snapshot of what
exactly what you guys do.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
And so we our main project is the raising funds
for cancer research is what we were founded on. But
since then we've added some other patient care projects as
well as our Austin's Playrooms where we did we build
playrooms for children and families and medical facilities. We have
to date forty four playrooms, not only in western Pennsylvania
in the Pittsburgh region, but we also have some military
(13:31):
playrooms across the country, and we're sort of expanding our
circle of playrooms to larger parts of Pennsylvania. Our latest
play room was in upmc Harrisburg was our latest playroom
that we opened, So we're sort of expanding our circle
a little bit outside of Western PA.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
That's great. Now, let's also remind everybody that there's a
matching opportunity if you donate, so tell us everything we
need to know about that.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yes, this holiday season we do our annual year in
holiday solicitation. This year Mario and Natalie are matching all
holiday all holiday donations up to five hundred thousand dollars
through December thirty first. So any honey dollar amount you
give to the Lemu Foundation any way you choose to give,
they'll match that money.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Okay, And there's also an incentive at the beginning of
the year. You can sign up. Now what is that
all about?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Sure, you can sign up now. It's called the Mariolmu
Foundation Winner Challenge and it starts January first and runs
through March seventh, So that's sixty six days and we're
challenging you to run, walk, move sixty six miles and
sixty six days. Anyone who hits that sixty six miles
has then entered to win prizes and we I think
we have about thirty prizes that we give out, including
Penguins tickets, sign jersey, sign pucks, a lot of stuff
(14:38):
from the Penguins, a lot of Lemu Foundation apparel, things
like that. But you know, if you want to walk, run, bike, ride,
canoe row anyway you can track sixty six miles, we'll
take it as long as you're linked up to our
We use what's called the good Move app. But if
you go to mariolimu dot org, we have a link
right there to sign up and it starts January first
and runs for sixty six days.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
All right, you can sign up. Now. We talked a
little bit about research and then the fantasy camp. What
else do you have planned for twenty twenty five?
Speaker 2 (15:05):
So we do our Big Austin's Playroom Luncheon event which
we do every year in May, where we have four
hundred mostly women come for a lunch and auction event.
That is a table captain event actually, so all of
our tables are sold individually by the table captain, so
you basically have to know someone to get into that event.
But you can find more information about that on our
website as well at mariolmu dot org. We do our
(15:26):
six point six k event each fall with the start
of the Penguin season. So next season we'll have our
six point six k run again. I think it'll be
year fourteen next year already.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Which does that just happened a couple of months ago?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
And that just happened in October when we kicked off
the season where we operate that event with the Pittsburgh
Penguins Foundation and we split the proceeds. Usually we have
about four thousand participants that come out run the streets
of Pittsburgh to kick off the Penguin season. Mario's at
the finish line every year giving high fives the finishers.
He loves that event. Every year. It's the first thing
he puts on his calendar. He shows up and he's
(15:56):
at the finish line given a high five to everyone
who finishes.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Golf outings.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Golf outings, we do multiple golf outings throughout the year.
One of our big one is our Wounded Heroes Golf
event that we do in September each year, which was
started to benefit all of our military playrooms that we have,
but we some of the proceeds from that go to
our Austin's Playroom project as well as some other local
military charities that we work with. It's about the Warrior Foundation,
Ventures and Training with a purchase Purpose which is John
(16:21):
Colb Charity and also Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs. They
provide some medical service dogs to our veterans here locally.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
How much input does Mario give you, guys?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
What is the tremendous amount. Yes, Mario Natalie are on
our board, all our board meetings and all our planning sessions. Again,
everything we do is based on their personal experiences. So
Mario Natalie both huge golfers, so we do a lot
of golf events that they participate in, and everything we
do they have a hand in. So it's Mario with
the hockey camp and the six point six k run
(16:51):
and Natalie with the luncheon and our golf events and
things like that. She's just their very hands on and
very very involved in making sure things are at Mario
the muse quality.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And his wife are part of the board. How big
of an organization are you.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Comparatively, We're not that big. We have a full five
people in a full time staff, so we all wear
a lot of hats and do a lot of different things.
I've worked there for twenty five years, worked up front,
started as an intern, and have worked my way up
since then. But back in the day, we just did
the big celebrity golf tournament at Nevillwood where we had
forty to fifty thousand people over four days and that's
(17:25):
the only thing we did back in those days. Now
we do fundraisers throughout the year, work with all kinds
of organizations that raise money for us. Now, but it's
turned into I don't know sure we envisioned the foundation
becoming what it has, but yeah, we're so happy a
to what we've accomplished.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
How much how much money do you think you've raised
over the years.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
We say we've gifted forty million dollars to cancer research
patient care projects, including the Austin's Playrooms, which the playrooms themselves,
which we estimate have impacted, you know, over one point
five million children and families just the playrooms alone. So
you start thinking about things like that, the number of
people that are in and out of our playrooms, the
number of people that are at hill And Cancer Center
(18:04):
that are on the fourth floor is the Mario the
U Center for Blood Cancers that we have that we established,
I think in twenty twelve, where we have a whole
floor in Hillman we're dedicated to blood blood cancers for research,
clinical trials, and patient care that we started back in
twenty twelve. So all the people that go through that floor,
the impact that we've made there.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
And the organization has five full time employees. Correct, that's
that's that's a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
It's a lot, it's a challenge, but we enjoy it.
We enjoy it. We have three of us to have
I've been here for over twenty five years, so it's
something that we look for that. The job means a
lot to us because we know it's for a great cause.
We come in every day and work.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Guard. Do you need volunteers? Are you accepting volunteers?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
We do. We have a number of events that we
need volunteers. You can sign up on our website at
mariolmu dot org to be a volunteer. We need volunteers
for our golf events. We need volunteers for the six
point six K where we have over three hundred volunteers
for that event. We need volunteers for our hockey camp.
We have volunteers for all kind of different things. So yes,
if you're interested in volunteer with us, you can go
to mariolmuw dot org and sign up. How much of
a commitment it depends on the event, but you know
(19:05):
we're looking for It depends on what people are looking for.
But the easiest way is that six point six k
is kind of do something for us where we have
a multiple different jobs you can sign up for for
whatever it's your schedule and what you're able to do.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Do you get the same volunteers year in year out.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
We get a lot of familiar face some new faces though,
for sure, but we like to have a lot of
familiar faces. I think the people that come to our
events recognize our volunteers, so that's always nice that and
we like to have I mean, we're we're in Pittsburgh,
so people we like to see, you know, people that
you know, and we're such a small small town, big town,
big city, small town feel, so we'd like to have
that familiarity with our volunteers.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
So you've been there for twenty five years. How long
has the foundation been around?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Since ninety three? It was started but very small back
in the day and they just did a small golf tournament.
Really amped up in ninety eight when they did the
Big Mario, the new celebrity invitational golf event at Nevillwood,
and then since then we've sort of transitioned into all
the things we do now.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
So you raise all this money throughout the year and
how is earmarked two different projects and things like that.
How is that done.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
It depends on the event, but mostly things go generally
to the Mariel THEMW Foundation. Exception to that might be
events that raise money specifically for Austin's playrooms, and that
money might be earmarked for a specific playroom or maintenance
for our playrooms. What we found is with the forty
four playrooms we've gifted, we don't just give them and
gift them and walk away. We continue to maintain those rooms.
So if they need new carpet, they need new flooring,
(20:26):
they need new paint, they need new toys, electronics and
TVs and things like that, we continue to replenish and
restock those items for them. So all of a sudden,
you've got forty four playrooms that you've got to maintain
and keep. It's turned into quite the big project where
now we do some separate fundraisers specifically for our playrooms.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
In this game, you and your staff taken care of all.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
We have a staff person that does all of our
Austin's playrooms. Again, we're Karen is. Our is our person
who does our Austin's playrooms, Karen's race and she's actually
retiring here soon. In the next couple of months. So
we're actually replacing her with a new Austin's Playroom person
who'll be totally dedicated to just playrooms, building new and a.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Full time job just doing that.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
We build on new rooms and then maintaining the existing ones.
It's a huge jump.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
And so is there plans to increase the amount of
Austin playrooms.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
It's finding the right Yes, we'll continue to build rooms.
We try to build at least one or two a year,
but it's working and finding the right facilities and finding
the right space within those facilities is always the challenge.
That's why our scope is getting a little large.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
We'd be nice to have sixty six. That would be
a great number. I mean that number hard to maintain,
but you know, you're you're almost there.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Going back to volunteers for Austin's Playrooms is something we're
trying to implement of getting volunteers for each playroom where
they can sort of go in maybe quarterly or twice
a year to sort of check the status of that playroom.
Doesn't need toys, does it need this, and doesn't need
electronics updates and things like that is something that we're
trying to implement with volunteers.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
We're talking to Drew Parrish, executive director of Mario Lemieux Foundation. Again,
for somebody who's just tuning in, tell us a little
bit about the organization.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Yeah, Mary Lemue Foundation. We raise money for cancer research
and patient care. We've gifted over forty million dollars for
those projects here since nineteen ninety three. So we're proud
of our support here in Pittsburgh through our fundraising events
and throw impact that we've made.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
And again let's tell people about the last minute donations
that people can to donate for the foundation till the
end of the year, and Mario and his wife will
we'll match everything.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Sure through the end of the year December thirty first,
Mario Natalie will match all of our year in holidays
holiday donations up to five hundred thousand dollars. So any amount,
anyway you give it, well, Mario Natalie will match that
amount and all will go to our cancer research and
patient care projects. And we're also doing our Winter Challenge
event which starts January first. You can register now. It
starts January first, runs for sixty six days, and we're
(22:45):
trying to encourage people to move sixty six miles over
those sixty six days. You hit that sixty six miles,
you'll be entered to win great prizes, including Penguins tickets,
signed jerseys, Mario Lemu Foundation apparel, things like that. But
you can run, walk, bike, canoe, crawl, peloton, elliptical, anything
you want to do. As long as you hit that
(23:06):
sixty six miles, you're eligible to win prizes.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
What is the one thing you want people to know
about your organization that maybe people aren't aware of.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
We have big goals, but we want to do those
big goals here in Pittsburgh. I think that's that's our
what we want to do. We want to help people
here in Pittsburgh first, and then we want to we
want to do all of our research here. We want
to help our families here, and then we want to
make that impact where we can expand to outside Pittsburgh.
We want people to come here. We want people to
come here to Children's for clinical trials and things like that,
(23:34):
and we want people to come to Hillman because it's
such a great facility for what we offer. So we
want to do those things in Pittsburgh because Pittsburgh means
so much to Mario into us.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Tell us your relationship with the Penguins.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
So, yeah, we have a great relationship with the Penguins. Obviously,
you think of the Penguins, you think of Mario that
mew and vice versa. We do a lot of different
fundraisers with them and the Penguin Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation. We
are three separate organizations, but we work in sync together.
Penguins Foundation has there our own things youth hockey and
wellness programs and things like that. We focus on cancel research,
(24:06):
patient care and building playrooms and medical facilities.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
All right, So you do the fantasy camp, you do
the golf outings, you do the fun walk and run.
What is the what is the most time consuming for you?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Oh, it depends on the time of year. These days
now it just kind of goes one thing after the next.
But like, yeah, like so our hockey camp is usually
in March or February, so usually I'm planning that in
September and we're starting to order jerseys and things like that,
so I'm usually six months ahead of things. But it's
just sort of that planning. We have a pretty good
calendar going on now. But one of the things we
(24:40):
love to do is work with people who are doing
golf outings or doing other things for us. So we
have a number of families that do outings. Every year.
We have our friends Justin and Angwise they do a
family outing and honor of Justin's mother who passed away.
They raise, you know, over ten thousand dollars every year
for the foundation and they've been doing it for coming
up on fifteen years. So it's working with people like
(25:01):
that who put on events, do all the hard work
and donate money to the LEMU Foundation is some of
the fun stuff that we do.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
And so when it comes to golf outings, how how
much work goes into into those.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
It's for the way we do it a lot. We
try to make it a great event. We try to
give them a great gift package when they come in.
We work with some great golf courses. Are Wounded here
as event is at Allegheny Country Club. We have a
Club sixty six event which we haven't even talked about,
but our Club sixty six is our Young Professionals group,
so we have a golf outing there at Diamond Run
every year. So that's our Club sixty six is our
(25:39):
Young Professionals where we are encouraging younger professionals to not
necessarily give to the LEMW Foundation right now, but just
sort of make them aware of what we do, so
as they grow up and come into their profession and
choose what charities they're going to support, they're aware of
the them new foundation. So Club sixty six we started
right before COVID in twenty nineteen, based on networking events
(26:00):
and happy hour events, so we suffered a little bit
through the COVID time most organizations did. Yeah, but since
then we still we still are having events now and
we started this golf outing a few years ago. That's
raising good money for the LEMU Foundation.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
You obviously have a fantastic relationship with the Penguins, which
makes sense. Are there any other organizations or companies that
are big supporters of the Mary Lemineux Foundation.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah, easy answer to that is, you know, high Mark
and UPMC are big supporters of the foundation. High Mark
is a title of the six point six k run,
but we are good partners with them, so they support
a lot of our events. And we obviously have some
major gifts to both Allegheny Health Network and UPMC.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
But the small gifts also make a difference.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Oh, they do, They certainly do. And that's again that's
what we were founded on. People making small gifts is
really what matters. And there's no gift that's too small.
All of it contributes, all of it helps children and
families here in Pittsburgh, and we couldn't do it without
those gifts.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
All right, we only have a couple of minutes left,
so let's talk about how somebody can give. And there's
also a bone us at the end, tell us about that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Right now, through the end of the year is our
holiday year end holidays donation time, So if you're looking
to make a year end donation, you can go to
Mariolimue dot org make a donation to the LEMU Foundation
and Mario Natalie l MU will match that donation up
to five hundred thousand dollars through the end of the year.
So any donation made any way possible through check, going
to our website to using our online donation form, all
(27:22):
those funds will be matched by Mario Natalie the MEU
up to five hundred thousands. You have a goal, will
we try to raise five hundred thousand dollars. That's that's
sort of the goal every year and it's I think
we started this about four years ago with Mario Natalie
doing this match. So every year they're willing to do
this and it's such a great commitment from them. It's
a good motivation for people to donate.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Twenty five dollars, fifty dollars all get matched by Mario
and Natalie, so which is all yeah, that does to cost.
And then starting on you can sign up well now
but the beginning on January first tell us about the.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Yes, the Mario Lemue Foundation Winner Challenge. You can sign
up now, but it starts January first and runs through
March seventh, which is sixty six days, and we're challenging
you to run, walk, move sixty six miles in sixty
six days and then you'll be eligible to win prizes
if you hit that sixty six miles. We have some
great prizes, Penguins tickets, sign jerseys, Mary Lemux Foundation, and
(28:13):
Penguins apparel. All you got to do is hit that
sixty six miles. And again, you can use your peloton,
you can use your elliptical, you can run walk any
way you want to do. It will count those miles
and you just got to get signed up on our app.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
It's not even the new year, and already you're busy
for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Oh, we're ready. I'm actually planning some events for twenty
twenty six already.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
So that's awes.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Yeah, that's all.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Mary Lemoux Foundation, dedicated to funding cancer research, patient care,
and supporting families and challenging medical situations. You do, guys,
You guys do a fantastic job. Thank you for everything
that you do and everything that Mario has done for
this CITI. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Thank you for having me really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Drew Parrish, Executive Director, thank you so much. Once again.
If you have any comments, concern, or an idea for
a future program, please email us from this radio station's website.
I'm Johnny Heartwell, thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
When your car is making a strange noise, no matter
what it is, you can't just pretend it's not happening.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
That's an interesting sound.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
It's like your mental health. If you're struggling and feeling overwhelmed,
it's important to do something about it. It can be
as simple as talking to someone in your community or
just taking a deep, calming breath.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
When you need it.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Nice for mental health resources check out Loveyourmind Today dot org.
At Loveyourmind Today dot org, you'll find information that may
help you get through a tough time, things like tips
for dealing with stress, how to navigate difficulties like financial worries, anger,
substance use, and more. You can also find real stories
of how people navigated their own mental health challenges, because
(29:58):
once you start to address the problem, you can go
so much further. Visit loveyomindtoday dot org. That's loveyomind Today
dot org, brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health
Institute and the AD Council
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