Day 301: Pulled A Truck & Bought Lunch For Friends

Today, there are two random acts for the price of one.  A kindness combo, if you will.  What better place to start out a combo than at a place known for them; McDonald's headquarters.  While the fast food addict in me thinks of Big Macs, Chicken McNuggets, and fries when McDonald's is brought up, the kindness part of me thinks about Ronald McDonald House.  In February, I met (via email) a woman named Mardelle who works for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana.  Mardelle and I have been in touch on and off for the past few months, and recently she asked if I would be interested in joining her at one of their upcoming charity events, Pulling For The House.  Pulling For The House is a unique fundraiser where teams of 12 compete to pull a semi-truck (yes, a semi-truck) faster than all the other teams.  With a bad back, I wasn't too sure how much I could add to the team, but any chance to help a cause like Ronald McDonald House, I am taking.  So today, for my random act of kindness, I pulled a truck to help raise money for Ronald McDonald House Charities.  I hope I don't throw my back out because...

11 years ago, friends of mine were scattered about at the different universities we attended.  It was weird not seeing each other after hanging out with each other almost daily for so many years.  One weekend, a handful of us decided to meet up at the University of Illinois for a weekend of partying and catching up.  A few of us had joined fraternities at our given schools, so we came up with the idea to start our own fraternity among our diaspora of friends.  Our fraternity would gather together once a year, no matter where everyone was.  It was to be something that would ensure that no matter how far apart we grow geographically, we would always have that one day to converge on a given locale to celebrate our fraternal bond.  And on that day, in an apartment on U of I's campus, Mu Alpha Nu and MANFest were born.  As a founding father, I wanted to do something for all of my friends.  I called my friend Manolis from America's Dog who helped me pass out hot dogs during my appearance on The Steve Harvey Show.  He said he would help me put together an order large enough to satiate the hungers of 25+ grown men.  So today, for the second half of my random act of kindness two-fer, I bought lunch for my friends.  Mu Mu Mu, Mu Alpha Nu.