curing coats
Fundraiser

Make a donation here

Our one and ONLY event for 2024 is June 2, 2024! We are excited to bring you a bigger and better Cornhole Tournament, new food trucks and great music. Link below to register your 2 person team for Cornhole! Your registration fee is all for a good cause!

We will have 3 categories for Cornhole Teams.

COMPETITIVE

SOCIAL

BACKYARD/FAMILY

WHEN REGISTERING, PLEASE USE YOUR PHONE OR IPAD FOR BEST RESULTS.

COMPETITIVE: This bracket is for those Cornhole Professionals. The ones who travel around our area competing on the regular. If you have your own team shirts, walk in with your own bags and are known around town, this is the one for you!

$50 to register. Cash prizes for the top 3 teams. $250, $150, $50.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE COMPETITIVE BRACKET

SOCIAL: This bracket is for those players who attend a few competitions a year. They are good enough to hang with the best of them, they sink them when it counts but they aren’t tossing bags in tournaments every weekend.

$40 to register. Gift card prizes for the top 3 teams.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE SOCIAL BRACKET

BACKYARD/FAMILY: You might have a set of boards collecting dust under your deck, you might pick up bags at the UMD Tailgates once a year, or you have NEVER played a game of Cornhole before. You might even be playing with your kids. If this is you, then join the Backyard/Family Bracket! If you have your own shirts/bags, please register for the Competitive Bracket.

$40 to register. Gift Card prizes for the top 3 teams.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE BACKYARD/FAMILY BRACKET

2023 WAS A SUCCESS!

**SENDING OUT A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR DONORS AND BUSINESS OWNERS WHO MADE 2023 AMAZING. WE RAISED OVER $28,000!!!!!!**
**WITHOUT THE FOOD TRUCKS, BAND, BREWERY, DISTILLERY, SHOTS FOR COATS, MD CORNHOLE ORGANIZATION AND FAMILY HELPING, THIS EVENT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE.**

**A NEW WAY TO DONATE. OUR NEW QR CODE MAKES DONATING EASIER THAN EVER!**

Our brand new shirts! Unisex, fit true to size. $25/each. $10 donated to The Wilmer.

The latest Clarksville Neighbors edition featured The Smole Family and their work for The Wilmer Eye Institute. Click on each photo to read in detail about the Bingo game!

Our story

what is coats disease?

Coats disease is a very rare eye disease that causes the blood vessels in your eye to leak, causing retinal detachment, blindness and—in extreme cases—the loss of your eye.

Coats can be discovered when taking a photo and the resulting image includes one yellow eye and the other red. The yellow eye is the Coats Eye.

an example of what happens when taking a photo of someone with coats disease. the yellow eye is the coats eye.

Why we fundraise

Just after Christmas of 2013, our son, Sean, was diagnosed with Coats Disease. We were at his routine eye exam at Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Within moments of starting his exam, we knew something was terribly wrong. We were blessed, however, to be in a place where the doctors knew what they were looking at. Since Coats Disease is so rare, most eye doctors will never come across it in person.

We quickly went home to Maryland to seek out the best care possible for our son. Sean was seen on Monday, January 6, 2014 and was in surgery the next day.

Sean is being treated at The Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University and is getting great care. He has had seven surgeries since January 7, 2014. His eye is now stable and his eyesight has gone from 20/2000 at the time of diagnosis to 20/70! He is The Wilmer's "Miracle Case".

This is not the first time Coats Disease has effected our family. My cousin's son also has the disease. It is unheard of to have two children from the same family diagnosed with Coats. They have yet to identify a genetic link for the disease.

2023 Sean’s Progress Update: As of April 2023, Sean continues to see his team of doctors at The Wilmer every 8 months. His vision is holding steady and actually seems to be improving. Thank goodness we are in such wonderful hands at The Wilmer!

2023 Research Update: Dr. Sodhi’s team of researchers are hard at work identifying proteins in the eye that we need to target for better treatment. Progress is being made and we are excited to share the release of a first manuscript in which they describe the use of a novel drug for the treatment of vascular permeability and retinal neovascularization. The research team has now moved onto animal testing, a HUGE step in research. If all goes well we could see the drug used in human trials in the next 2 years! Their goal is to generate the data necessary to justify to the FDA the use of this drug in children with Coats disease. Stay tuned and follow us online for all the latest updates!

click here to read about dr. Sodhi's current research

Throughout this journey our family has come to realize that we have to give back. We have to make this disease easier to handle for the next family... and that is how the Curing Coats Fundraiser was born.

about the fundraiser

Sean's team at The Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute includes retina specialist, Dr. Handa and ophthalmologist, Dr. Repka. They both work closely with Dr. Akrit Sodhi, who is responsible for researching a cure for Coats Disease. Before our family started the fundraiser, The Wilmer Eye Institute was not researching the disease.

We founded the fundraiser shortly after our son was diagnosed in 2014. In the ten years since the diagnosis of our cousin's son, treatment barely changed. We wanted to change that. Our hope is to make a difference for children with Coats Disease and assist a major eye institute as it works towards a cure.

Since 2014, we have hosted a large party at our home in Clarksville, Maryland and most recently at The Warehouse District in Columbia, MD. Through the generous donations of our community—food trucks, music, photography, supplies, raffle items, etc.—we have been able to donate 100% of all donations directly to The Wilmer Eye Institute and the research of Dr. Akrit Sodhi. All $275,000+ of it! This year, 2024, our event will be located at Hysteria Brewing Co. & Lost Ark Distilling Co. We will be changing things up a bit, a bigger Cornhole Tournament, Artists, Music, and more! Stay tuned for details!

We can't wait to host the 10th Annual Curing Coats Fundraiser next JUNE and we hope to see you there. If you are interested in donating to this cause, please visit the Wilmer Eye Institute's donation page.

You may also donate by purchasing a t-shirt or hat at the event or by emailing us to place an order: curingcoatsfundraiser@gmail.com

when + where

Date: Sunday, June 2 2024
Time: 12-5pm

The Warehouse District 9570 Berger Rd. Columbia, MD 21046

Little details

Donations can be made at the door or online.
Cornhole Tournament will include a Competitive Bracket, Social Bracket and Amateur Bracket.
Purchase a Curing Coats Fundraiser tumbler for $20 at the event via Venmo or Cash.
Purchase a t-shirt for $25. $10 of every purchase is donated to The Wilmer.
Attire: Casual (jeans, shorts, t-shirts, etc.)
Parking: The Warehouse District Lot , Off Gerwig Road & in the British Autocare Lot across the street.
If you know someone interested in supporting the cause, bring them. The more the merrier.

Questions? Email curingcoatsfundraiser@gmail.com

a big Thank you to this year's donors!

T & J Waffles www.tandjwaffles.com
DMV Taqueria www.dmvtaqueria.com
Kona Ice www.kona-ice.com
Mike's Gelato www.mikesgelato.com
Out of Order www.outofordermusic.weebly.com
Lost Ark Distilling Co. www.lostarkdistilling.com
Travelin Tom’s Coffee www.travelintomscoffee.com
Varsity Graphics www.varsitygraphics.net

Donate

Donate online at our Curing Coats Fundraiser page

Donate Here

These beer/cocktail cups turned out perfectly! Buy them at the check-in table the night of the event! — These beer/cocktail cups turned out perfectly! Buy them at the swag table.

donate by purchasing a fundraiser Tumbler & T-shirt

In addition to direct donations, we are also selling tumblers at the event for $20. All proceeds will go directly to Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute for The continued Coats Disease Research of Dr. Akrit Sodhi. Grab yours at the event or email us to place an order: blsmole@yahoo.com

New T-Shirts for 2022! The same soft shirts you have come to love are now redesigned. $25 each and $10 of every purchase is donated back to The Wilmer!

Our brand new shirts!! Unisex, fit true to size.

Founded in 2016 by Sean's best friend, Jack Pavlovcak, Shots for Coats has continued to amaze all of us each and every year. Jack wanted to help Sean raise funds and came up with the idea to shoot basketballs and get pledges for the amount of baskets he made. Jack's idea turned into over $41,000 being raised in just 8 years! It is amazing what our youth can make happen!

This year, Jack will be hosting Shots For Coats on May 12th, 4pm. You can join him online streaming live on Instagram or in-person at his home in Richboro, PA. All donations can be made in the link above and if you do make a donation, please text Jack at 215-350-1803 and let him know the amount of your donation. This will help him track totals as we do not see your donation in real time, as they are processed directly through The Wilmer development office. THANK YOU!

Shots for coats is the perfect extension of the Curing Coats Fundraiser. If you are interested in starting your own local Shots For Coats, please email Barbi at blsmole@yahoo.com.