Andy's fundraiser, at Milestones Denman Street

Normally I make it a practice not to write anything about work, or other restaurants in the business. In the past, I'd written a handful of articles where I'd review restaurants, but have taken the approach that this isn't really what my blog was meant to be about, and that it's also a conflict of interest with my employer, future employers, or competitors. I don't want to be that guy who writes reviews, or either promotes or bashes business ventures. That's just not my thing. My thing is talking about products, and passions which I thoroughly enjoy, and that said, I don't talk about anything on here that I don't love.

So with all that said... sometimes there's an exception. In my personal life, I'm interested in a few things other than bartending, such as humanitarianism. As such, I almost feel obligated to write an article describing the awesome contribution from so many people to my friend and co-worker Andy, who has been battling cancer for several months now. This Wednesday, the management and staff at Milestones Denman Street threw a fundraiser to help raise money for Andy, and the results were inspiring.

A lot of people came out, and donated thousands of dollars to help Andy. There were door prizes and silent auction items put up from many sources, such as StarBucks and Howe Sound Brewing to name a few. Even our direct competition, Cactus Club Cafe, provided an awesome and sizable donation for the auction. Personally, I find this sort of willingness for business competitors to work together to be incredibly inspiring, and the fact that such great contributions were made for Andy, is even more inspiring for me.

I had the benefit of talking to Andy just a few moments ago, and asked him if he wanted me to say anything on his behalf in my blog. And of course, he has asked me to extend his thanks to anyone who came out to help support the fundraiser, and that the turn out was more than he could have hoped for. As for me, I'd like to thank every inspiring contribution, right down to each dollar donated, tweet made, or hour spent in honor of Andy.