20 Fox Focus | Community
Giving Tuesday
Is a “Match”
for Donors
Coast to Coast
by DEB BURZYNSKI and KAT MCCARRICK
Last year, Christine and Sonny Whelen —
a member of The Michael J. Fox Foundation
(MJFF) Board of Directors — joined with
longtime donor Tucker Wilson to make
Giving Tuesday history. As part of MJFF’s
2018 #2MillionTuesday campaign, they
teamed up to match every donation dollar-
for-dollar with one goal. “We hoped the
match would serve as motivation for others
to make meaningful gifts toward vital
research,” said Sonny.
Not only did their match gift contribute to a
record-breaking day of engagement and giving
from the Parkinson’s community, but their
generosity inspired three additional families to
offer support for this year’s campaign. Now, a
total of five families — including the Whelens
and Wilson — are uniting to create another
$2-million match for Giving Tuesday 2019.
Falling on the first Tuesday following
Thanksgiving — and on the heels of Black
Friday and Cyber Monday — Giving Tuesday is a
national day of giving back to support thousands
of charitable organizations and causes worldwide.
This year’s Giving Tuesday is on December 3, 2019.
Once again, MJFF’s $2-million goal is
ambitious. But now our reach extends from
East Coast to West with even more families
challenging their fellow community members
to double their impact on research.
“We couldn’t be more grateful for the
generosity of this special group of families