I am going to take a brief timeout from the 22 Immutable Laws review to bring you this update from last week in Orlando Florida. First of all, Dave Perry and the staff at Furniture Today did a great job of bringing us the 2015 Bedding Conference. It was very well attended as always, and for those of us that were there, we walked away with at least a few things that can “move the ball” as they say.  If you are not making it to this event, you really should consider it because it is a great time with some great people. Well done Dave and team. Matt Slaine, give that man a raise! 🙂

Thanks to the wisdom of Furniture Today and the Seena Magowitz Foundation we now have these two events back to back in the same location so it makes it much easier on those of us attending both. (THANK YOU for that one.) The Magowitz event was a HUGE success thanks to a few groups in particular. First of all a big thank you to The Mattress Firm for raising $1 MILLION DOLLARS. In addition, this years event Chairman, Gary Fazio, and the entire Serta/Simmons organization raised an additional $600,000. To top it off, Mark Kinsley and I, (yes Dos Marcos back together for charity), were the live auctioneers for the big dinner event helping attendees part with an additional $100,000. (Thanks to our big bidders Jerry Wooten with Dream Fit, Tony Smith of Simmons, Leon Ellman at Sherwood/Spink and Edgar, Karl Glassman at Leggett and Platt, Phil Sherman of Customatic and of course Michael Fux with Comfort Revolution winning the grand finale item of a private box at Yankees Stadium. Price tag was a very generous $40,000!) All said and done the two day event raised about $2.2 million!  All of this money will go to the tgen foundation and to Dr. Dan Von Hoff and his team to advance their work in beating this deadly disease of pancreatic cancer.

I started getting involved in this event about four years ago. Then Roger asked Karl Glassman, my COO at the time, to be the Chairman of the event so I got a chance to help him and get even more involved. Karl and his wife Cathi and my wife Bridget and I, all made a trip to the tgen facility to meet Dr. Von Hoff and his team. I want to tell you that there is not a more genuine, deserving group for this money than these guys. This is a very nasty disease and these guys put their heart and sole into trying to help the people with pancreatic cancer live a little long and a little better with the time they do have. There is no doubt in my mind that they will find a cure one day and when they do, the mattress industry can take a big bow because we will have played a substantial role in finding that cure.

My son Nick and my daughter Gabby pray for Dr. Von Hoff every night by name. My wife and I also give to the foundation because we believe in the people doing this work. Please join us in supporting these guys find a way for early detection and ultimately a cure. I promise you, your time, energy, and treasure could not be invested in a better way. Click on the picture of Roger and Maddison and see if you can help!

PS Liz McBeth and Nicole Rector, I know that Roger is THE MAN and his light shines all over this event. HOWEVER, as Roger said that night at dinner, you guys did an incredible job and deserve a lot of credit for making it so unbelievable. Well done!