The London Show, Team Jenny, & the Factory Five Family

An Update from Dave Smith
 

Jenny sits on a donated custom chopper that helped raise $100,000 last December at the Alliance Energy Christmas party.
 

June 6, 2006

This morning I was working thru my normal pile of mail and to-do’s here at FFR. I opened up a nice letter from a guy named Tim Cucci (FFR customer).  Along with the letter, Tim had sent a check for Team Jenny (all money goes directly to the CF Foundation in Jenny’s name). 

 

Every week we get donations for Team Jenny from customers and suppliers and the like.  After I read Tim’s letter I was reminded yet again of this amazing community we have of FFR customers and enthusiasts. 

 

Text from Tim’s Letter…

 

“Dear Dave,

 

 A few weeks ago I made the mistake of lowering my roadster down off my four post lift with the door open and a ladder in the way.  Well, I guess you can figure out what happened next.  Luckily I only bent the door hinge (mk2). 

 

I posted on the forum looking for anybody that had an extra door hinge lying around and Jeff Miller (Da Bat), was nice enough to send me one free of charge.  The deal was that I send the cost of shipping $11.00 to Team Jenny.  I told him I would double that.  Please find a check for $25.00 and apply it to Team Jenny Fund.

 

As a proud owner of your product I just wanted to take this chance to tell you that you have a first rate product.  I built the car six years ago and have enjoyed dumping more and more money into it.  Just replaced the stock carpet and installed a nice stereo.

 

Best wishes with Jenny,

 

Tim Ciucci

 

I could write a post thanking everyone who has donated in small increments (and large!) over the years to raise more than 2 million dollars for Team Jenny.  I wanted to share this letter because it shows the connection of the FFR community to helping others.  Thanks to Tim and Jeff Miller (Jeff Miller customs), and to everyone who makes this FFR community so special!
 

Left:  Jenny turns seven years old!  Right:  Jenny (middle) with her older sisters and brother.
 

It’s been a while since I’ve updated you guys on things with Jenny, and the upcoming London Show has some news to be told, so I figured it would be a good time for an update.

 

The upcoming London show is important for many reasons, but mostly because it is a lot of fun, a great time and the money raised is for a good cause. This year (for the first time!) Factory Five will be there in force!  We are bringing our new six-car transporter and road show, along with our crew and cars to have fun and reduce tire circumference. 

 

The event began as the Spring Fling under the leadership of Ed Coombs and a huge group of passionate folks.  Back in the early days Jenny and I traveled out to London and participated in the event.  Jenny missed a few years due to illness, and as time has gone by I have never liked the idea of having my guys display our cars at the event.  Unlike other manufacturers, my personal connection to the event made the thought of selling cars or promoting my company repugnant.  Many guys would email me asking me why FFR didn’t exhibit or support the show more and the real answer was that I felt strongly that I didn’t have to use my daughter’s illness to sell cars, thank you very much.  Also over the years my wife and I have been keeping Jenny out of the fund-raising spotlight since as she gets older she may not want to be the poster child and prefer to be just a normal kid (as many kids with serious illnesses desire).

 

The other thing that has happened is that NASA is now hosting a race-only National Championship event for our challenge series.  This means that the annual FFR Nationals will be for the racers primarily and we still need to gather for a nationals with the bulk of our street customers.  We are looking at the London Show as a potential place to bring our annual Nationals meeting each year.  We’ll be talking to the organizers about this idea, but the bottom line is we need to establish a location for our street car nationals and London might be a great place to join!

 

Now we have come full circle with the old Spring Fling!  The event benefits the CF Foundation, but Jenny is no longer directly attached to the event, so we feel free to bring our show trailer and cars.  I told my guys that I wanted to lend our support to the event in earnest and help continue to build it in the future. 

 

This years’ London Show promises to be better than ever. Jenny is doing great and all of us are part of an amazing community that is as exceptional as it is rare. I hope to see you all in London, Ohio June 24th!

 

Dave Smith

President
 

Background:

As some of you know, my wife Denise and I have a daughter named Jennifer who is battling a fatal genetic disease called Cystic Fibrosis.  In an effort to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, we started “Team Jenny” back in 2000.  All money donated to Team Jenny is simply forwarded to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  Tax deductible contributions and receipts are from the CF Foundation. 

 

Recent developments June 6, 2006

The HUGE development with Jenny is a new medicine developed in partnership with the CF Foundation.  Jenny is doing FANTASTIC! And much of the cause is a simple therapy that really reverses most of the bad effects of the disease.  Jenny is taking an inhaled form of salt water (mist) at a high 7% concentration.  This inhaled salt water changes the lung health dramatically!  She has been taking this for about six months and is almost normal in many ways.  The effects of Cystic Fibrosis continue, but at a much reduced rate.  Bottom line… In a battle for extra days as well as to extend and improve the quality of life as long as possible, this new medicine is making a huge difference. All of this has happened as a DIRECT result of the money that has been raised that has allowed scientists and clinical doctors to test ideas and develop new therapies.  THANK YOU!
 

Left:  Jenny Smith, Newport, Rhode Island, Summer ‘05     Right: Jenny’s brother, sisters, & dog Sam.  Summer ‘05