MAKING ORDINARY EXTRAORDINARY™
Hello Friends,
In August 2002, in lieu of a traditional birthday party, Colby Lutz held his first toy drive for the kids at Riley Hospital for Children.
Just 2 short years later, with their birthday’s just a day apart, Cate joined in on the fun.
Over the next several years, what was once a “small” get together of 60-70 people grew to, at our highest levels, over 1200 over the course of the day. Spilling over from our yard to the many gracious neighbors who joined us in hosting what became Colby & Cate’s Birthday Bash.
We were joined by countless friends, family, clients, patients and even strangers in our fundraising efforts.
We were joined by many amazing volunteers – many of whom we’d never met that believed in our mission and wanted our guest experiences to be top-notch.
We were joined by several Pacers, Colts, alumni and even several Miss Indiana’s who all loved what we were doing and attend our events.
We were joined by some very talented people who served on our board of Directors and committees.
We were joined by many local small businesses, restaurants, regional and even national corporations as big as Coca Cola and Wal-Mart.
We were joined by many celebrities who signed items for us and in some cases donated tickets and experiences for our auctions. Taylor Swift, John Mellencamp, Toby Keith, Andrew Luck and several other Pacers and Colts along the way.
By 2018, we started doing Golf outings and in 2019, held a spectacular event called Octane, a hangar party that had the potential to be Hamilton County’s equivalent to Rev, featuring private aircraft and one-of a kind automobiles. The inaugural event had nearly 800 people in attendance.
Shortly after the 3 events we held in 2019 led us to our biggest year in our history, Covid happened.
Not only would our in-person events no longer be possible for an extended period, but as a result of the pandemic, we lost many of the restaurants and businesses who, provided amazing support to our food buffets, auctions and event sponsorship over the years. We also lost many contacts who lost their jobs at the companies which eventually survived Covid.
We could start over or pivot.
In 2021 and 2022, we pivoted to bourbon drawings to raise significant funds.
However, those drawings are not only very complicated due to state gaming laws, but it’s also difficult, time consuming and expensive to obtain the types of products that you need for a successful event. There are also very competitive as there seems to be 3 or 4 each month anymore to compete with.
Which leads us for our plans for moving forward.
Between 2002 and 2023, Colby & Cate’s Charities was able to provide significant funds for cancer research, Child Life departments and many other causes within Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital and Riley Hospital for Children.
We have provided invaluable experiences to kids and their families, including Aspen ski camps for cancer patients, summer camps for patients and their families, concert weekends (think hotel, limos, meals and suites to acts like, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran) and more. We have even fulfilled multiple wishes through another great, local organization, now known as Indiana Wish.
In all, including the two upcoming 2024 trips to Aspen and Grand County, Colorado – which have already been both funded and paid for, approximately $1.2 million dollars was provided to help Indiana kids with life-threatening and life-altering conditions. We couldn’t have done it without the thousands of individual and corporate supporters, sponsors, donors and volunteers we’ve gained over the years.
Equally important to all of our fundraising and experiences we provided, our family met many amazing people along the way. Many became close family friends. Many more we’ve stayed in contact with along the way.
All of these amazing gains and successes do not come without pain. Sadly, we have lost several of the kids we’ve provided experiences to - to the illnesses we tried to help find cures for. I won’t name them all, as the list is way too long and includes another angel who gained his wings this past Saturday.
But to know that we had touched their young lives and so many others in such a positive way, means the world to Amy, Colby, Cate and myself as well as all those who served with us at Colby & Cate’s Charities.
Like all good things, everything must come to an end.
After a 22 year run (starting with that simple toy drive), we have turned off the online fundraising tools on our web site and closing the door on this chapter in our lives.
Today, we say thank you, one more time to each and every one of the thousands of supporters who have helped us over the years in every way imaginable.
It’s a bitter-sweet day for Amy, myself, Colby & Cate and our board members – many of whom served our organization for 10 or more years.
Bitter in that all good things much come to an end. Sweet, in knowing how much good we as a collective group were able to accomplish for Indiana kids with life-threatening and life-altering conditions.
We wish you all nothing but good health and happiness and urge you to continue to support small, local non-profits in their missions as well as Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital and Riley Hospital for Children.
With love and gratitude,
Matt & Amy, Colby and Cate Lutz and our amazing team at Colby & Cate’s Charities.