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Fundraiser for Elio Martinez


DonRocks

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Contact: Christina Patsel
124 N. Washington Street
Falls Church, VA
Phone: 703-534-1033
E-mail: argias@earthlink.net

Argia's and The State Theater Holding Fundraiser to Help Brutally Beaten Co-Worker

A fundraising event is being held at The State Theater on Monday, September 10, 2007, from 8:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. to benefit Elio Martinez, who was violently attacked and remains in critical condition at INOVA Fairfax Hospital. To help with Elio's medical expenses and recovery, Argia's restaurant in Falls Church in collaboration with The State Theater are organizing the fundraiser event.

"Elio is a part of our family at Argia's and we want to support him in his time of need. I know if the tables were turned, Elio would do the same thing for one of his co-workers," said Adam Roth, co-owner of Argia's Restaurant.

On Monday, August 13, 2007, Elio Martinez exited a city bus at Bailey's Crossroads having finished his double-shift at Argia's Restaurant in Falls Church. Allegedly, three to nine men randomly assaulted Elio with baseball bats while he was walking home. A bystander witnessed the attacked and called the police. Rescue workers transported Elio to the hospital where he was treated with 30 staples for multiple skull fractures. The doctors induced Elio into a barbiturate coma due to the massive swelling in his brain.

Elio was in a coma like state for three weeks, but just recently, the doctors have brought him back to full consciousness, and he is responding positively to basic verbal stimuli. However, the full impact of his injuries are still unknown. Elio still remains in critical condition in the ICU unit.

Elio arrived in the States nine years ago from Guatemala when he was just 17 years old. Elio has worked at Argia's for eight of the years he has been living in the U.S. He has five brothers, two of which live in Northern Virginia, and three sisters. His parents live in Guatemala, but are unable to obtain Visas to travel into the U.S. to see their son.

Friends and family are also helping organize the fundraising event on the fourth week anniversary of Elio's attack. Argia's neighbor, The State Theatre, has graciously donated both their building and employees for this event. There will be live music by Maple, Magnolia Blue, Steve and Claire and the Picnic Bears, Brother Shamus, and Bobby Thomas and the Magic Voyagers throughout the evening, as well as a silent auction.

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If you would like more information, contact Christina Patsel at 703-901-0012.

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Elio has been working for us for over seven years. He's a great person, co-worker, employee and human being. I cannot convey how great an employee he has been throughout the years. When he started working for us he was a dishwasher, but has moved up through the ranks as a prep cook, pasta and bread maker, pasta cook and was training for sautee before this unfortunate incident occurred.

Although quiet, Elio is always quick to laugh and his high-pitched giggle always brings smiles to everybody around him. We miss him terribly pray daily for his return.

Argia's is accepting monetary donations on Elio's behalf or any auction items for the silent auction.

Please pass this notice to as many people as possible, or we will be happy to forward an electronic copy upon request.

Thank you in advance.

Adam Roth

Proprietor

Argia's Restaurant

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Is there a way we could funnel donations collectively into a PayPal account?

If there's an interest, I'll do it.

I'm on PayPal, and what I'd do is list each individual donation on this thread (so there's accountability on my end), and then drive over to Argia's and hand Adam a check for whatever the total amount is. I'm also going to be donating some items for the silent auction (probably some wine or something), and I hope others will too.

Cheers,
Rocks.

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If there's an interest, I'll do it.

I'm on PayPal, and what I'd do is list each individual donation on this thread (so there's accountability on my end), and then drive over to Argia's and hand Adam a check for whatever the total amount is. I'm also going to be donating some items for the silent auction (probably some wine or something), and I hope others will too.

Cheers,
Rocks.

That would be great. I'd like to participate, but am unlikely to make the event.

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Okay I just added donrocks@donrockwell.com to my PayPal account. I've never done this before (I've only used it to pay people with, not to receive any funds), so bear with me as I figure this out. I'm not sure how PayPal lets me know who gives what, so until further notice, please send me a PM if you donate anything. I'll do a full accounting here on this thread, and obviously 100% of everything will go directly to Mr. Martinez through Argia's.

NON-MEMBERS - there's no reason you can't donate if you want to help out. I will studiously keep track of each donation here on this thread, so please check back in, and send me an email letting me know who you are. I have no idea if nobody will donate, or 20 people will donate, but you never know until you try. Even if people only give a couple of dollars, it will add up, I think. Let's help this guy out.

Cheers, Rocks.

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Okay, the first donation has arrived, and I see how this works now - there's a message area in PayPal to send to the recipient. Please specify how you'd like to be identified in this thread. I guess it's not necessary to send me a PM or an email if you write me a PayPal note with your donation.

And thanks, monavano, for starting us off with $25.

And THANK YOU VERY MUCH to:

youngfood for $25

Jlock and lackadaisi $25

LoganCircle $40

jiveturk21 $25

booklovingbabe $25

Heather $50

brettashley01 $25

Seanchai $25

Eric Reid - Dinner for two at Del Merei Grille (silent auction item)

cjsadler $25

Also, if you use a credit card, they apparently take out a fee - one of the $25 donations came in as $23.97. Regardless, I'll make up the difference as my own contribution, so the full amount will be given either way. Also I guess I should state the obvious and mention that these contributions are unfortunately not tax-deductible, charitable though they may be.

Cheers,

Rocks

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There is also an option to donate to Argia's directly through PayPal, the address is: argias@earthlink.net

Or you can mail a check or money order to the restaurant:

Argia's Restaurant
124 N. Washington Street
Falls Church, VA 22046

As long as the money gets there, that's all that counts. The best reasons to do it through here are because I'll hand them a single check - probably on September 10th when I take some wine over to State Theater for the auction - and also because I'll make up the shortfall for the fees as my own donation (as of 10:15 tonight, $165 of donations results in a net of $160.45, and I'll make up the $4.55 out-of-pocket).

Sometimes this website is easier to run than others. This thread is just the morale-boost I needed after a tough few months - it reminds me of why dr.com exists. Thanks to everyone here for all they do.

Cheers,
Rocks.

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I wanted to bump this up now that Labor Day is over, the kids are back in school, and people have more time to procrastinate here. :angry:

In just two days before a busy holiday weekend, we raised $265 for Mr. Martinez (see post #7), and that doesn't include people who donated through Argia's website (see post #8). I'll deliver all of the donations this weekend, so keep 'em coming. Don't forget the silent auction is on Monday at 8 PM at the State Theater - please consider donating items for auction as well. Remember also that even donations of a couple dollars will add up!

Cheers, and thanks to everyone here for your generosity. You all are amazing!

Rocks.

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Right now we have $290 in cash raised, and I just got Eric Reid's "dinner for two" gift certificate in the mail, so we're making a pretty meaningful contribution to Mr. Martinez and his family. Keep it coming - and I'll get all funds into the right hands this weekend.

And you can read about the event on www.dcdining.com. Yep, they got the domaine name (just don't ask what they paid for it!)

Cheers,

Rocks.

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Good news: I just heard that Mr. Martinez is out of trauma ICU! He has a long way to go, however.

Thank you all and keep it coming. We're up to $375, and I'll be delivering everything Saturday.

monavano $25

youngfood $25

Jlock and lackadaisi $25

LoganCircle $40

jiveturk21 $25

booklovingbabe $25

Heather $50

brettashley01 $25

Seanchai $25

Eric Reid - Dinner for two at Del Merei Grille (silent auction item)

cjsadler $25

goldenticket $35

Monica Bhide $25

Rick Azzarano $25

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Argia's would like to kindly thank you and your bloggers for your donations to the Elio Martinez Benefit. Last Monday we were able to raise over $18,000. To date we've already broken the $22,000 mark, more than double the mark that we were hoping for. The benefit was a complete success with more than 250 people in the door on a rainy Monday night. The bands, scheduled to play until midnight, stayed on and rocked the night til 1 AM.

We were able to obtain more than 85 auction items for the silent auction and raffle. Many local restaurants donated gift certificates and other items: Blanca's, Clare & Don's, Ireland's Four Provinces, Argia's, Taqueria El Poblano, Chipotle, Willow, Equinox, Del Merei Grille, Rocklands, Rhodeside Grill, Ragtime, Stacey's Coffee Parlor, Z Pizza to name a few. Many of the State Theatre employees said that this was the most successful benefit that they've ever hosted.

We are also extremely happy to report that Elio is getting better. He is awake and has complete recall and recognition, which is critical to people who have experienced extreme head trauma. He has been moved out of INOVA Fairfax hospital to INOVA Mt Vernon Hospital which has a better rehabilitation center. He is eager to get better and come back to work. Elio was able to name all of the ingredients in each pasta dish on our menu boasting that he'll be able to return as soon as his body is healed.

Physically, he has a long road ahead of him. He still cannot move his left arm and can only wiggle fingers and toes, but that's a good starting point. I will be happy to update his progress as he improves.

Once again our sincerest thanks to everybody that helped out. We as a restaurant are only as good as our employees allow us to be, and it was great to see people on both sides of our industry (customers and restaurant workers) come together to help someone in their time of need.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Adam B. Roth

Proprietor

Argia's Restaurant

124 N Washington St

Falls Church, VA 22046

www.argias.com

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Elio moved back to Guatemala with his family.

Adam, thank you for the update. I hope Elio is doing relatively well, and I'm *glad* he's with his family which is a person's greatest source of comfort during traumatic injury such as this. You and all of Argia's were wonderful during this particularly difficult time. I'm glad this community was able to help in a small way - 15 of our members rallied on Elio's behalf, and here they are again:

monavano 

youngfood 

Jlock and lackadaisi 

LoganCircle 

jiveturk21 

booklovingbabe 

Heather 

brettashley01 

Seanchai 

Eric Reid

cjsadler 

goldenticket 

Monica Bhide 

Rick Azzarano 

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