The 28th annual Ringside for Mercy’s Sake, held Saturday, November 2, was another great success as hundreds of friends of Mercy Home gathered together for an evening of amateur boxing, auctions, dining, dancing, and charitable gaming at the Chicago Marriott Magnificent Mile.
Fr. Scott Donahue began the evening’s festivities with a welcome and thank you to our guests for their support of our mission and shared how it has helped countless young people overcome trauma and go on to successful futures.
Board of Directors member and CBS2 anchor Jim Williams again served as the emcee of the event, as well as creating a video that was shared at the event about Mercy Home alumna Kristina. In the video, Kristina talked about moving from Lithuania, the struggle of living with an alcoholic father, and how coming to Mercy Home changed the trajectory of her life and helped her become a successful adult. You can see the video here. We are thankful to Kristina for her willingness to share her story with our supporters.
WGN-TV News anchors Robin Baumgarten and Joe Donlon led the special pledge donation drive and hosted our live auction. This year’s auction included fabulous prizes like a private dinner with Fr. Scott at RPM Italian, donated by Bill and Giuliana Rancic, and a trip to St. John’s in the Virgin Islands, donated by Bob and Ann Carmody and Mark and Annemarie Wesa.
The eight boxing bouts began after Kelly Home’s Carlos opened the competition with a wonderful rendition of the National Anthem. We are so thankful to all our boxers who competed in the event, and congratulate Patrick “No Baloney” Maloney, of Aerie Capital, and Shawn “The Beantown Brawler” DeAmicis, representing Beantown Property Management, for nabbing the coveted trophy for fight of the night. The week before the event, Maloney’s story of overcoming cancer twice to get in the ring for our kids was shared on the WGN-TV News.
After a full evening of bidding on auction items, enjoying a delicious dinner, and eight action-packed boxing matches, our guests danced the night away to the music of the City Lights Orchestra, led by Board of Directors member Rich Daniels.
We are especially thankful to our event co-chairs Johanna Rahal, Joe Nolan, and Bill Rancic for their hard work putting together another wonderful Ringside. We are also thankful to all our guests, donors, sponsors, board members and volunteers who were part of this special evening.
