Some of you may recall reading my piece last month on my experience of The Kraken Black Ink Society competition. If not, shame on you, it can be found here:
Competition Breeds...
One of the bartenders I had the pleasure of competing against (and later getting slightly tipsy with) was the ever-safe Ajax Kentish, pictured above. A big dude with an even bigger heart it seems because just the other night, he dropped me a line to ask for my help in raising some funds and awareness for a mission he holds close to his heart; Help.A.Bartender.
The story behind this is one we can all relate to in one way or another: Help.A.Bartender started off when Ajax found out that one of his friends Elias, who worked as a bartender in Greece, had a serious motorbike accident. The complications arising from that accident have left Elias in need of extensive surgery and further treatments but in order to get them he needs to pay between €30,000 - €50,000. Those of you reading this are, more-than-likely, in the bar/hospitality trade and we all now how that goes when it comes to the end of the week.
Elias has sold most of what he has to pay for what he’s had done so far, so Ajax decided it's now his time to help. He'd been planning over the last two month to cycle to Athens from London within a month to raise money and now he confirms he will set off in just 2 and a half months. He's going to need a lot of help to get to his goal, including some more sponsors. If any of you out there in cyberspace read this and think you can help then please head over to Help.A.Bartender and soon http://www.helpabartender.com/, in the words of Ajax : "whether it be £1 or £20, whether it be £1,000 or £5,000, every bit helps. And I will be keeping you up to date with things I'v been doing and things you can do to help". Methods for donation will be up shortly.
This is a mammoth task for any one man to undertake, however, if we all give a little we can get Elias back on the mend. Ajax has even higher hopes for this endeavour, however, after this mission has been completed, he says there are other people who work in hospitality who could use a little help, and we might be able to do something about it. The first mission is for him to help out Elias, but where this venture goes after that could be somewhere very special indeed.
Competition Breeds...
The story behind this is one we can all relate to in one way or another: Help.A.Bartender started off when Ajax found out that one of his friends Elias, who worked as a bartender in Greece, had a serious motorbike accident. The complications arising from that accident have left Elias in need of extensive surgery and further treatments but in order to get them he needs to pay between €30,000 - €50,000. Those of you reading this are, more-than-likely, in the bar/hospitality trade and we all now how that goes when it comes to the end of the week.
Elias has sold most of what he has to pay for what he’s had done so far, so Ajax decided it's now his time to help. He'd been planning over the last two month to cycle to Athens from London within a month to raise money and now he confirms he will set off in just 2 and a half months. He's going to need a lot of help to get to his goal, including some more sponsors. If any of you out there in cyberspace read this and think you can help then please head over to Help.A.Bartender and soon http://www.helpabartender.com/, in the words of Ajax : "whether it be £1 or £20, whether it be £1,000 or £5,000, every bit helps. And I will be keeping you up to date with things I'v been doing and things you can do to help". Methods for donation will be up shortly.
Please spread the word, keep a watchful eye on Ajax' progress and, if you can, please donate to the cause.
Good luck Ajax, expect my donation, I'll spread the word and any help I can provide up here in Scotland will be quickly given.
Jodes
Thank you very much for a very kind write up. And like I said, every little helps. I believe that bartenders and people who work in hospitality, work in a very small community, and when one of us falls we should all be there to help each other out.
ReplyDeleteIf people want to start donating they can. Go to; www.helpabartender.com, it looks like a very basic site but the more snazzy looking version will be up later this week, thanks to Cal Roscow of Roscow Digital. But donations can start coming in now.
Like to say many thanks to people so far but lets get this rolling.
Much love
Ajax Kentish
Help A Bartender