Over $12,000 raised for Constantinides family
On July 18, Colorado MMA ringside doctor Alex Constantinides lost his wife and three young daughters in a tragic accident….
On July 18, Colorado MMA ringside doctor Alex Constantinides lost his wife and three young daughters in a tragic accident.
The Colorado MMA community was grief stricken with the news. Everyone within the MMA community jumped into action to do something. A fundraiser for the Constantinides family was started on Wednesday and donations were already coming in by Thursday. By Friday afternoon, the fund had reached $3,000 by 5 p.m. MT.
One of Colorado’s MMA promoters, Fight to Win (run by Seth Daniels and Jamie Addie), was hosting an event on Saturday night. Fight to Win organized an autograph signing with UFC fighters and veterans Shane Carwin, Brendan Schaub, Eliot Marshall, Duane Ludwig, and Justin Wren to raise as much money as possible. Meanwhile, many other Colorado promoters, family, and friends were diligently helping as well. The goal was to reach $10,000 by midnight on Saturday to pay for the Colorado memorial taking place on July 27 in Colorado Springs.
Before the doors opened for the event and the autograph signing began at 6 p.m., the fund had reached $6,500. The autograph signing had accumulated quite the line. After every fight, the MC made an announcement for donations and the progress held steady. After the fifth fight, during intermission, the fund had reached $9,000… in less than four hours.
Daniels took to the mic and warned the fans, Y’all need to make a donation please. If the show ends and we have not reached our goal, I will grab y’all and turn you upside down to shake the change out of your pockets!
Addie went to each individual V.I.P table, thanked them for their business, and asked them to match his donation of $100. A short 15 minutes later, the intermission was over and Daniels again grabbed the mic.
We did it everyone, we raised $11,200, thank you for your support!
The giving didn’t stop there. At the end of the evening, the results were tallied with donations totaling $12,083. Not only was the Colorado MMA community able to meet the goal of $10,000, they raised a staggering $12,000 in less than four days!
Amidst the tragedy of this horrific occurrence, the light was shining that night.
How You Can Continue to Help
Even though the current sum of $12,083 has been transferred to Alex’s account, the fund remains open and we encourage you to make your donations. Alex and his wife Laurel were passionately involved with adoptions from China. All three of the Constantinides children were adopted from China and Laurel was a counsellor for Chinese Children Adoption International.
You can also make a donation on behalf of the Constantinides family at www.halfthesky.org. This is an organization that offers care for China’s orphaned children. The front page of their site has a Donate Now button. Please give all you can so that others may benefit from the passion of the Constantinides family.
