The Most Wonderful Day of the Year: Jackās Mannequin Day 2016
Hello tumblr fam! My tumblr activity has been pretty lacking recently, especially in the AM world, but Iām back to tell yāall about one of my favorite days of the year: Jackās Mannequin Day.Ā
As many of you know, August 23rd represents a very important day for Andrew McMahon. On that very day back in 2005, Andrew released the debut Jackās Mannequin album Everything in Transit. He also received a stem cell transplant from his sister, Katie. This stem cell transplant saved his life and led him down the road to remission from leukemia. Needless to say, these two events have had an immense impact on Andrew and his fans, and while Andrew has moved past his illness and continues to create beautiful music, it seems only right to honor this day somehow. So a few years ago, I got the idea for Jackās Mannequin Day. Over the past 5 years, itās blossomed into a beautiful thing thatās been embraced by Andrew and his Foundation. If youāre unfamiliar with Jackās Mannequin Day, hereās the gist:
First and foremost, Jackās Mannequin Day is a day of celebration. A celebration of music. A celebration of community. A celebration of life. You can choose to celebrate any way you choose. You could:
Blast Everything in Transit and the rest of the Jackās Mannequin/Andrew discography in your car or at your workplace.
Share Andrewās story and his music with people in your life who have never heard of him. Make your very own mixed tape for them with all your favorite songs!
Share a movie night with friends/family and watch āDear Jack." Post Jackās Mannequin/Andrew-related stuff (Andrewās story, a JM song, etcā¦) on Facebook, Twitter, Insta, Snapchat, or Tumblr. If you see other fans doing it, message them and make a new friend!
Jackās Mannequin Day is also a day of action. This can be accomplished in a multitude of ways.
In honor of Andrew being in remission for 11 FREAKING YEARS, donate $11 to the Dear Jack Foundation or another charity of your choice. While $11 might not seem like a lot, the smallest donation can make the biggest difference, especially if a lot of people do it! Andrewās The Dear Jack Foundation supports the UCLA Daltrey/Townshend YA Cancer Program (the only YA cancer treatment program in the country), Cancer For College, and Stupid Cancer, among others. You could also donate to any number of teams participating in the Dear Jack 100K Challenge. Thereās also the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation, which Iām partial to. Those whoāve been around the Andrew fandom for awhile remember Matt as an amazing member of our tribe, and his family have done some incredible work keeping his memory alive and helping other young adult cancer patients via the power of music.
If you donāt have the money to donate (or even if you do), spend the day volunteering. Go visit with pediatric cancer patients at your local hospital. Ask your friends for gently used toys. Whatever you end up doing, make sure to share Andrewās story and let people know what youāre doing for your community and why.
Become a bone marrow donor. Andrew was lucky enough to find a successful donor in his sister, but not everybody is. Every year, 10,000 patients with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases need a marrow transplant from an unrelated donor, but only half receive one. By registering as a bone marrow donor, you can help change that.
Thatās about it from me! To wrap things up, Iāll leave you with a quote from the man himself: "With each new day it becomes more and more apparent to me that everything and everyone in this world is connected in some beautiful and inexplicable way, and the more I accept that, the more my world seems to come together.ā -Andrew McMahon, August 23rd, 2005