Fundraising part of bar owner's lore

George Timmins bought the beachside Sugar Bowl bar in the Breezy Point section of Queens, N.Y., the year (1976) his son Tommy was born.


It was only natural that Tommy grew up in the bar, the father showing him the ropes. One of the important lessons that George taught Tommy and his brother (who now runs the Sugar Bowl) was that giving back to the community is good for business.


George constantly built fundraisers, 5K runs, golf tournaments and raffles to raise money for families down on their luck, firefighters, police officers, or other neighborhood groups that served Rockaway Beach.


"It was almost every week," Tommy said of his late father. "Whenever there were troubled times, like after 9/11, people would gravitate to the bar where there was a sense of community, and out of that would come ideas. Usually ideas that raised a lot of money."


So when Tommy and his business partner, Kevin Devin, opened Madison's bar and lounge and Connolly's on 5th next door at 115 E. 5th St. in uptown Charlotte, the fundraising part of bar life followed them.

They've helped raise thousands for people in need: For a woman with cerebral palsy who needed a service dog. For the family of a friend dying of cancer.

Now uptown charities, like non-profits everywhere in Mecklenburg, have seen their funding slashed and are having to dispense human services with far less. Timmins and Devin are reaching out again.

Starting Friday, from 6-9 p.m., and continuing for the next seven Fridays, Madison's is hosting Fundraising Fridays. It'll work like this: Each donor will pay a $10 cover fee, and that money -- every dime -- will go to a different uptown non-profit each week.

Timmins and Devin have locked in the first four, including Community Health Services, King's Kitchen and Boy Scouts of America. As a draw to donors, they'll serve up certain beers and wines at half-price.

They're keeping the beneficiaries in the neighborhood because that's how George Timmins did it.

"We are well aware of the budget crunching and the charities right here in uptown losing their funding," Tommy said. "They're our neighbors. We've watched it happen, especially with what the banks went through.

"Neighbors help neighbors."