2008

2008 marked the 7th year of the Sean McDonough Charitable Foundation. Thanks to a dedicated and compassionate army of volunteers, sponsors, and supporters, our events were again wildly successful. Despite the difficult economy, we raised $340,500 which we distributed to 60 children’s charities throughout Massachusetts. This brings our 7-year total to $2,304,900 given to 116 organizations across the Commonwealth.

The festivities began, as they have in each of the seven years, with the Samuel Adams Celebrity Draw Party and Auctions held at the Boston Harbor Hotel on Sunday, September 14. Hundreds of supporters filled the Wharf Room to bid on more than 200 spectacular auction items and mingle with another amazing group of nationally known celebrities. Many thanks to Phil Lussier and his family for their generosity. They walked away with several terrific auction items, including a trip to an Abbey in Italy and dinner at the Capital Grille with Jerry Remy. Bob Khederian gobbled up some of the most talked about items of the night, including an appearance in an upcoming Farrelly Brothers movie. Bob is a natural for the big screen with his charisma and movie star good looks and it would surprise no one if this appearance yields an Oscar nomination and dozens of offers to star in feature films. He is already legendary within the Sean McDonough Charitable Foundation for his extraordinary generosity. Thanks also to another annual star at SMCF events, Marty Joyce, who won the spirited bidding for a golf trip to South Carolina and dinner at Davio’s with PGA Tour star Brad Faxon

The Robert Fraley Memorial Goodness Award was presented to Raffi Boyadjian of Raffi’s Limo Service. Raffi has provided limousine service for the SMCF events from year one, and many of the celebrities have made it a point to say how wonderful it is to be greeted by Raffi’s smiling face, or a member of his outstanding staff. Raffi has donated his time to countless charitable causes, and has hosted a number of events to support children's charities in memory of his late son. Raffi, and his wife Sandy are warm, friendly, and compassionate people who care deeply about making life better for other people. The Board of Directors is delighted to honor the Boyadjian’s, who exemplify the qualities that made Robert Fraley such a special human being.

Erin McDonough narrated a touching video that summarized the Foundation’s history of charitable giving. The video, produced and edited beautifully by Cramer, focused on the “Girl Power” program in Quincy and South Boston’s Pop Warner Football program. Both organizations have received grants from SMCF. Bob and Dan Ferrara are heroes to hundreds of children in South Boston. They thanked SMCF for purchasing much-needed new football helmets for hundreds of youngsters in their program. At the conclusion of the video, Alice Correia talked about her experiences with “Girl Power” and how it helped her accomplish many of her goals. She spoke emotionally about how proud her mother is now that Alice and her sister, Corina have become the first in their family to go on to college, thanks largely to their involvement in the “Girl Power” program.

The Sean McDonough Charitable Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic was held the next day on the Oaks Course at the International in Bolton. On a sunny, warm, and windy day, the golf competition once again went right down to the final hole. The winning team was captained by former NBA player and UConn star Donny Marshall, now a member of the Celtics television broadcasting team. Donny and his team of Danny McDonald, Neil Devlin, Brian Devlin and Tate Isenstadt finished in a tie with Bob Khederian’s foursome, captained by former Boston Bruin Bob Sweeney. Marshall’s squad won the tie-breaking card off, denying Khederian’s team the chance to become the first multiple-time winner of the Will McDonough Cup. The presenting sponsors of the Celebrity Golf Classic were Tudor Investment Corporation, Dunkin’ Donuts, and the Anthony H. Kruse Foundation. Thanks also to Mike and Trish Rotondi for returning as Awards Sponsor, and to Reebok for providing considerable assistance with the golfer gift bags. Thanks, as well, to the dozens of volunteers, coordinated by Rich Cantwell and Joe Hassell, who donated many hours of their time to help the tournament go off without a hitch. A half-hour television program about our events, also magnificently produced by Cramer, aired on Comcast Sports Net several times in December of 2008.

The annual Samuel Adams Celebrity Draw Party and Auctions, held Sunday, September 16 at the Boston Harbor Hotel, produced some of the most spirited bidding on auction items in the history of the event. Despite significant competition from Red Sox-Yankees and Patriots-Chargers games being played on the same evening, hundreds of generous Foundation supporters packed the Wharf Room to support SMCF’s mission. Much of the successful bidding was done by members of the delegation representing the Anthony H. Kruse Foundation, a new Presenting Sponsor of SMCF’s events. George Boedecker earned a tremendous ovation with his winning bid of $40,000 for a trip for two to Japan to attend the Tokyo premiere of “The Bourne Ultimatum” as the guest of the film’s star, Matt Damon.

The Robert Fraley Memorial Goodness Awards were presented to two deserving recipients. Samuel Adams Founder Jim Koch was honored for his sincere commitment to the Sean McDonough Charitable Foundation and many other worthwhile causes. Samuel Adams has been the title sponsor of our Celebrity Draw Party and Auctions from the very beginning, and Jim personally has been an extraordinarily generous bidder on auction items on an annual basis. Jim is an internationally known Brewer of some of the world’s finest beers. He is also legendary as one of Boston’s most charitably minded citizens, and our Board of Directors is proud to honor such a wonderful human being.

Tears filled the room during the presentation of the second Fraley Award, which was given posthumously to John Mineck. Like Robert Fraley, John Mineck was a warm and loving person who supported a great many worthwhile causes in an understated way. Like Robert, he was killed in a tragic accident. John died in May of 2007 while working on the magnificent golf course he founded, Boston Golf Club in Hingham. He left us much too soon, but he left behind a legacy of generosity and compassion that will be remembered for years to come.

The following day, the annual Sean McDonough Charitable Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic was once again held at the beautiful Oaks Course at the International in Bolton, Massachusetts. Tudor Investments and Dunkin’ Donuts returned as Presenting Sponsors of the Golf Classic, and were joined by the instant legends from the Anthony H. Kruse Foundation. The Kruse Foundation squad of Jeff Humphrey, Tom Mattson, Terry DeLeo and Joel Davis (with celebrity Captain John Havlicek) made an inspired run for the title in their first year and was part of a historic four-way tie for low net with a score of 59. After a tie-breaking match of cards, the winning team was the quintet led by ESPN’s Jay Bilas, with Jeff McCormick, Sue Curtin, Tom Martin and Roger Marino. Bilas made a key birdie on the number-one handicap hole to win the card-off and the Will McDonough Winner’s Cup. According to observers, McCormick’s most significant contribution was driving one of the golf carts. The other teams posting a 59 were led by CBS college basketball analyst Billy Packer (and his team of Mary Clivio, Jim Lippie, Gord Kluzak, and Jon Beerbohm), and Olympic legend Mike Eruzione (and his line-up of Danny McDonald, Neil Devlin, Brian Devlin, and Ken Murphy).

Celebrities Who Appeared

2006
The Sean McDonough Charitable Foundation celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2006 with another incredibly successful year. Our events raised $390,000, which we distributed to 60 children’s charities throughout Massachusetts. Our five-year total is $1.56 million given to 86 different charitable organizations, many of them recipients of multiple grants from SMCF.

The festivities began with the annual Samuel Adams Celebrity Draw Party and Auctions, held at the Boston Harbor Hotel on Sunday, September 17. Nearly 500 Foundation supporters were entertained by “The Experimentalist” Gerard Senehi. Diane Auger, Executive Director of “Friends for Tomorrow”, spoke eloquently and emotionally about the impact the grant her organization received from SMCF in 2005 had on the young people who participate in her program. The highlight of the auction was the winning bid of $35,000 made by Rob Broggi (on behalf of his Tudor Investments colleague Jim Pallotta) for dinner for 8 at Davios with PGA Tour star Brad Faxon.

The 150 golfers who took part in the Celebrity Golf Classic the following day were treated to another spectacular fall afternoon on the Oaks Course at the International in Bolton. The Foundation wishes to thank the co-presenting sponsors of the golf tournament, Dunkin Donuts (and CEO Jon Luther) and Tudor Investments, for their generosity. The winning team was captained by the internationally known star of music, television, and motion pictures, Donnie Wahlberg. He and his partners, Mike Rotondi, Bill LaRossa, Dave Page and Rob McMenimon captured the Will McDonough Winner’s Cup. It was a popular victory among tournament regulars given the status of Rotondi and LaRossa as active and generous members of the Sean McDonough Charitable Foundation’s Board of Directors. It was also a controversial win, given the aforementioned duo’s glaring lack of golfing ability, and led many of the participants to question whether the victors understood the scoring system and counted all their shots.

The Robert Fraley Memorial Goodness Award was presented to Jim Lippie, CEO of Thrive Networks. A founding member of the SMCF Board of Directors, Jim has worked tirelessly to help the Foundation positively impact the lives of thousands of children throughout Massachusetts.

Celebrities Who Appeared

For more information or if you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please email the Foundation at seanmcdonoughfoundation@comcast.net or call us at 617.984.0660.

2005
The 2005 Sean McDonough Charitable Foundation events exceeded all expectations. The events raised $450,000 for Massachusetts’ children’s charities, putting the Foundation’s total at $1.15 million in just 4 years!

The fun began on Sunday night at the Samuel Adams Celebrity Draw Party & Auctions at the luxurious Boston Harbor Hotel. Sean’s family surprised him with a beautiful photographer of Sean and his dad, the late Will McDonough, which Sean had never seen. The photo, seen here, was taken by renowned photographer Bill Brett for his book Boston: All One Family.

The auction was a tremendous success. The highlight of the auction was Jim Pallotta’s $55,000 bid to have PGA golfer Billy Andrade play with his foursome!

The RE/MAX Celebrity Golf Classic to benefit the Sean McDonough Charitable Foundation took place on Monday at the beautiful Oaks Course at The International in Bolton. The weather could not have been more perfect! The competition was fierce but in the end it was the group captained by hockey legend Ray Bourque that took home the Will McDonough Winner’s Cup with a low net score of 52. Bourque’s teammates included Bob Khederian, Bob Ciardi, Jim Faro and John Zedros.

Jim Pallotta’s auction investment paid dividends as well - his team finished with the low gross of 62. Danny Ainge, Executive Director of Basketball Operations for the Celtics, had the longest drive of the day!

The 2006 Sean McDonough Charitable Foundation events will take place Sunday, September 17 - Monday, September 18, 2006. Please save the date!

Joey McIntyre, Sean McDonough and Donnie Wahlberg at the 2005 Samuel Adams Celebrity Draw Party & Auctions

Celebrities Who Appeared

Prior Celebrity Golf Classics