In 1947,
Sidney Farber founded the
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in
Boston. The following year he launched the Jimmy Fund to raise money to support the hospital. The fund was named after a patient who was named "Jimmy" to protect his identity – his real name was
Einar Gustafson and his identity was revealed in 1998. During the program, "Jimmy" was visited in the hospital by star players from the
Boston Braves; the visit was arranged by future
New England Patriots owner
Billy Sullivan. Listeners were moved to act when asked to send in money to buy Jimmy a TV so that he could watch the
Boston Braves. More than $200,000 was raised for the Jimmy Fund that year. The Jimmy Fund’s baseball origins later evolved into a longstanding partnership with the
Boston Red Sox after the Braves
moved to Milwaukee in 1953. In 1980, the
Pan-Mass Challenge, a charity bicycle race, was founded to benefit the Jimmy Fund. In 1983, the Jimmy Fund began holding the Scooper Bowl, an ice cream festival, in Boston. Also in 1983, the fund began organizing golf tournaments to raise money. In 1989, the fund began organizing the Jimmy Fund Walk, which runs in conjunction with the
Boston Marathon. In 2002, the first
WEEI Jimmy Fund Radiothon was held. In 2003,
NESN joined the event and simulcasted it around New England. In 2013, the Jimmy Fund held its first Big Ideas Contest asking the public to submit new fundraising ideas for the fund. ==References==