Our Story

In October 2010, at Archon, a sci-fi, fantasy, gaming and media convention, Sausagefest took place.  Sausagefest came from the mind of Tony Mast, me, host and creator of the Back Seat Producers podcast. It was born first as a room party and spun into something more.  Archon takes place during the first weekend in October, which also happens to be Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  When I was in the process of turning our site pink, something we’ve done for the past few years to support awareness, I had the thought of collecting donations as part of the party. So on Saturday evening of the con, we ate, we drank and we collected over $500 in donations from people who wandered in and out of our room. I spoke to a few survivors and a parent of someone who was fighting the battle, and was struggling.  We had fun, and in the end, after taking donations from some folks who couldn’t be there in person, we raised $580.06

The following year at Sausagefest 2 and Sausagefest west, including the indiegogo campaign to fund the event over $2500 was raised!

We want to make Sausagefest 3 something bigger and better than it was in the past two years.  We are trying to spread the word to make this the the best Sausagefest yet!

The Impact

People will have fun. People will give.  And hopefully, in a place and at a time they wouldn’t normally expect, they’ll be made aware of breast cancer. This year, we are also changing the charity we are donating to.  This year, it’s not just about awareness, it’s about research too! We’ve changed from donating to Komen to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation®.

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation®

Last October, BCRF awarded $36.5 million in grants to 187 dedicated researchers for our 2011-2012 grant year.  These brilliant minds, from across the United States and 12 countries around the globe, are committed to a wide scope of research initiatives that focus on prevention, treatment, and a cure for breast cancer.  With this funding, our scientists have made crucial advances that have moved beyond the laboratory to directly influence the care and treatment of patients.  Your support fuels their accomplishments, and keeps BCRF investigators at the forefront of discovery and progress.

What We Need

Space – ($500) A room for the weekend costs approximately $250 dollars. We hope to get two of them.  One to support the event and a second to be a crash space for the people who are supporting the event.

Event supplies – ($500) – Sausage, alcoholic beverages, mixers, cups, plates. etc.  The event will last 4 to 6 hours.  We’ll have a few hundred people pass through the room and we want them to understand that while we are there for a cause, we also want to celebrate.

Supporting paraphernalia ($500?) – This depends on you! The more people who donate at the Perk levels, the more we’ll have to put into this pot. We won’t mind one bit if we have to up this number to cover the perks, because that means we are getting folks to donate to the cause. We’ll also use this portion to make sure all the support staff of Sausagefest at the con will be wearing a Pink t-shirt to help point people to the event.

Donation ($500) – Any money beyond what we need to put the event will get donated to the charity.  We would LOVE to be able to seed the donation fund with more money than we collected at the event last year.

Other Ways You Can Help

Spread the word. Donate! Come to Archon and share our sausage and a cool drink.