"Jump for a Cure"

Jump for a Cure
by The BarMan

DISCLAIMER: For the most part, I do not write blogs that are personal.... I usually write about things I have been asked or how to build a promotion or how to control liquor costs, etc, but this time I decided to write something that is near and dear to my heart.

"Jump for a Cure"...

Now being in the service industry for so long it is easy to say that all of those people who work in bars, restaurants, and nightclubs are nothing but a bunch of alcoholics who help people get wasted and really never give back to anything in society. For those of us in the service industry, this is probably a reputation that we will never get passed, but there are those tiny moments when no matter what anyone else thinks or has to say, we do our very best to give just a little piece of our hearts to a cause that means so much to so many people all over the world.

The idea was to gather a group from local bars and restaurants....convince them to skydive....and then raise money for Multiple Sclerosis Research. I know it sounds crazy, but we are the type of people that take everything to the extreme anyway, so why not?

Well, what started as an idea a few years ago has now become a REALITY. Last week we kicked off the 1st Jump For A Cure Skydiving Adventure to raise money for MS research. 11 people, including myself, gathered together in Waverly, TN at the Adventure Skydiving Tennessee jump center to take the leap.

I will be the first to tell you that I went into this thing thinking it was going to be an extreme, scared-shitless adventure(which it was), but what it turned out to be was a something I will never forget. A bond with those people that I cannot put into words except AMAZING. Sure we flew in a plane, had a free fall from 14,000 feet, and all landed safely but in the end we managed to not be "service industry" people for a day... for one day we came together as human beings to do something that is bigger than all of us.

And although we didn't raise enough money to change the world, we did raise nearly $1000 for MS Research and what we did was set the tone for the next Jump Event, which will be even bigger!

Thank you so much to those 11 people that shared what I will always consider one of the best days of my life.

To the staff of AST, you guys are amazing and I consider you not just amazing instructors, videographers, pilots, and staff members.... I consider you my friends.

Specials thanks to Tyler "T-Bagz" Parrish, Donnie "Lower Case G" Frierson Jr., Hunter Tigert, Jim Goodman, Tiffany Fox, William Murray, Paula Byrd, Becca Weller, Jennifer Wallace, Trevor "T-Rev" Baril, and all of the Staff at AST.