2024 Friend for Life: Andrew Myerson
Haymakers for Hope team visits an Overnight Camp session (first on the left, Andrew Myerson)
Camp Casco is thrilled to present Andrew Myerson with the 2024 Friend for Life Award. Andrew Myerson is the co-founder of Haymakers For Hope, a nonprofit empowering ordinary people to rise to a competitive challenge while raising funds for cancer research, care, awareness, and survivorship. Read a conversation below with Camp Casco and Andrew as we discuss the impact and legacy of Haymakers for Hope in the cancer community.
What inspired you to start Haymakers For Hope, and how has it grown since its beginning?
I wanted to do something to raise money for cancer research but really didn’t want to run a marathon. At the time, I had competed in Wall Street-themed fight nights, and through the gym, I met my now co-founder Julie. She’s a cancer survivor and won the NYC Golden Gloves in 2009. In 2010, she was looking to repeat and asked some other people if we’d do the gloves as well.
The idea for Haymakers started by observing the motivation behind why people donated to their friend’s marathon fundraisers. We realized that people wanted to support their friend’s training. They wanted to support them through the months of training. We realized that the training timelines were similar and asked the question: if people fundraise for their marathon training, could we fundraise for our boxing training? The joke we always tell is we vastly underestimated how much our friends wanted to see us get punched in the face. The issue then became, with each successent fight, we raised less and less. At the same time, I had a lot of people I worked with ask, “I’d love to see what I could do in the ring one time, but I have no idea how to get started,” and thus Haymakers was born!
Can you tell us a little bit about the impact Haymakers For Hope has had on the childhood cancer community over the years?
We are very focused on childhood cancer, and as we’ve become parents, I think our passion for trying to find a way to eliminate the gap that exists between funding for early childhood diseases is extremely important.
Haymakers For Hope was one of the first organizations to support Camp Casco when we started 10 years ago. What inspired you to support us?
It was through a fighter! He told us about your organization, and we loved the mission and the team.
Over the years, you’ve had the opportunity to visit some of Camp Casco’s programs. What are some of your favorite memories/experiences from visiting our camps?
Going to camp is an amazing experience, and I would say that, in a way, it’s very similar to our events in that it’s tough to put into words what makes them so special. They are the types of experiences that you have to see in person to see the impact that it has. I still remember visiting my first Overnight Camp, and that is something that I’ll never forget.
Looking ahead to the next ten years, what are some of your goals for Haymakers For Hope? How does a partnership with Camp Casco help support those goals?
We want to continue to put on high-quality events, give people once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and raise as much money as we can to KO cancer. We think that Camp Casco is such a magical place that gives kids a unique and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and we hope that we’re able to help them achieve their goals as they continue to grow and prosper.
Thank you, Andrew Myerson and Haymakers For Hope, for your continued support. We are so excited to celebrate you at Campfires & Cocktails. Tickets are on sale for Campfires & Cocktails here. You can learn more about Haymakers For Hope and their mission here.
