Tori Finazzi Memorial Foundation

06/03/2026

A couple of weeks ago, we were able to award two fantastic recipients with scholarships totaling $2,500. Below is the speech given by Jordan at Birch Run High School's award ceremony.

"10 years ago, Tori and I were in our first year of living on our own, in a 500 sqft apartment, with our new kitten Gandalf. (Gandalf is now a feisty 10 year old cat with no teeth who’s love language is still biting) At that point, Tori had been tumor free for 17 years but after experiencing some familiar leg pain, scans showed that the tumor was quickly growing back around her sciatic nerve in her pelvis. The first surgery was in 2016 and started a 6 year span of surgeries that bought time but did more and more damage until she couldn’t even walk.

That’s the quick introduction but the whole story isn’t as depressing.

Because even though Tori lost so much, she gave just as much. She gave me this ring on our wedding day. She gave our cat some strange habits. She gave our family hope. She gave her friends laugh lines. As a Certified Nursing Assistant, She gave rehabilitation to some folks who needed help. As a Medical Assistant She gave covid tests to people who subsequently sneezed on her.

And, finally, she gave us an opportunity to honor her for the 4th year in a row by providing scholarships to students entering the medical field just as she did. In 2026 we are able to offer 2 scholarships for a total of $2500. Kendelle McQuarters and Kiley Smith please come to the front and accept these scholarships from Tori."

05/16/2026

Register for the July 11th co****le tournament here!

Proceeds will go to the Tori Finazzi Memorial Foundation in honor of Tori's birthday on July 16th!

05/12/2026

No experience needed, family friendly!

Givebutter.com/bday-co****le-tournament

05/12/2026

This caught a member of our teams eye! If you’re local, this is a good reason for a pizza night next week!

03/22/2026

Hello! In an effort to be as transparent as possible, we are going to start listing any and all contributions to the foundation each month! Below is our list of donors for November-February:

Lori Finazzi (via superbowl board, thank you to everyone who participated!)
Adam Doll
Tom Mead
Tina Lysogoski
Jillian Vogel

We are always accepting donations via venmo and givebutter. Please reach out with any questions. Thank you so much for your continued support!

01/25/2026

Birch Run High School seniors! This upcoming week is your last chance to submit scholarship applications. If you're planning to go into healthcare or a similar "helping field," you should apply for the Tori Finazzi Memorial Scholarship. Details are in the counseling office.

Good luck :)

10/12/2025

Thank you to these awesome attendees for your participation in yesterday’s silent auction!

10/12/2025

THANK YOU! We cannot thank you all enough for showing up and supporting this foundation. We were lucky enough to raise over $5,000 between shirt purchases, brunch, and the silent auction today. Thank you to those that helped in the kitchen or manned a table. Thank you to those that ate with us, donated, participated in the silent auction, and bought t-shirts. We are able to continue to award an annual scholarship in Tori’s name because of you all. More pictures to come!

10/11/2025

TOMORROW!! See you there.

Givebutter.com/brunchandraffle

10/07/2025

Supporters, friends, and followers,

We are so excited to see you all THIS SATURDAY. I wanted to give a few updates, a timeline for the day, and what to expect.

Most importantly, we have had to pivot from a “raffle” to a “silent auction.” This doesn’t change much for you, except items will now go to the highest bidder rather than a random raffle ticket drawing. Bid on as many items as you desire! Bidding will end promptly at 12:30pm and winners (highest bidder) will begin to be announced shortly after. We plan for this to be a controlled environment and we ask that you wait for your name to be called before taking an item, even if you know you were the highest bidder. You will still need to be present or have someone present on your behalf to be awarded your winnings.

Donations and payments can be made via cash, check, Venmo, or Givebutter. There will be signage and plenty of foundation members circling to provide guidance and answer questions, look for our name tags!

There will be a dedicated area for shirt pick up. This is also where the remainder of t-shirts will be sold.

Brunch will be served from 10am to 12pm. If you did not pre pay and would like to eat, tickets can be purchased at the door. If you do not need plan to eat, no purchase is necessary. You can still pre purchase brunch tickets here: Givebutter.com/brunchandraffle

Bake sale (which is entirely donation based, no marked prices), will go until we run out of goodies.

Thank you all for your continued support! We can’t wait to see you.

Pancake Brunch