Pontiac, MI (August 12, 2008) -- The Michigan Bucks are proud to announce that their 2008 season long campaign to raise money to help dying children hit the $10,000 mark. Bucks Chairman and CEO Dan Duggan introduced the Goals for Dakota program on opening night May 17 to help raise money to cure Tay-Sachs disease, a disease that is always fatal in children. Inspired by nine-year-old Dakota Bihn of Olmsted Falls, OH, the Goals for Dakota program was not just put in place to raise money for the necessary medical research, but also to help give the Bucks players an opportunity to give back to the community. Bucks fans had an opportunity to pledge money per goal all season long for each Bucks goal to make up their pledge for the fundraiser. The high scoring team from Pontiac finished the 16 game regular season with 40 goals en route to the Premier Development League (PDL) regular season championship.
Tay Sachs is a degenerative neurological disorder that prevents waste from being removed from the brain, causing loss of mental and physical abilities until life itself can no longer be sustained. The Cure Tay-Sachs Foundation was founded by Dakota’s family last year with the hopes of raising enough money and awareness to fund the clinical trials to help find a cure. The $10,000 raised from Goals for Dakota put the organization’s fund raising total over $500,000 in less than a year: $200,000 which has already been gifted to the Tay-Sachs Gene Therapy Consortium, a group of medical specialists from around the world who are closing in on finding the cure to this deadly disease.
Foundation President Ken Bihn was humbled by the Bucks generosity over the course of the 2008 season:
“Many people would look at our situation and feel sorry for us with Dakota’s disease. This is something that no family should ever have to go through. As much as we have to deal with the reality of waking up each day with a nine year old daughter with a terminal illness, we also cherish the days we had this year with people who don’t even know us that are willing to help. The Bucks organization is not only an amazing organization on the field- and we love to watch this team play. But I only wish that some of our major professional sports franchises would take a small amount of what this team did for the Foundation. This is a minor league franchise that did more to help our cause - with no personal gain at stake - than most professional teams would ever do. I was told that this was a minor league organization, but they are major league in everything they do, both on and off the field,” said Bihn from his Cleveland office.
Bucks Chairman/CEO Dan Duggan was pleased with the response to the team’s first year effort to help community charities on a season long basis.
“We put this together in a short period of time and had a relatively good response to our campaign. One of the neat things is that the pledges did not just come from fans at Bucks home games, but came from people from all over the US -- 14 states to be exact -- people who have appreciated the Bucks and what we have stood for since 1996,” said Duggan.
“Dakota’s story and her perseverance over adversity is not only a great story in sports, but it is one of the great stories in life. This organization will continue to support the Cure Tay-Sachs Foundation until we find a cure for this disease.”
As part of the incentive for all those participating in the Goals for Dakota fundraiser, the Bucks awarded the grand prize to one lucky person who pledged money towards the campaign. The lucky winner of the GFD drawing was Todd Neff of Denver, CO who has won an autographed soccer jersey from any player from Major League Soccer or the US National team. For more information on Dakota and to see her amazing story, please visit the Bucks web site at www.buckssoccer.com and click on the Goals for Dakota link.
