posted Dec 24, 2008 11:18 AM by Matt Perkins
We have added a photo page with a different format.
We would like as much feedback as possible from you.
Please let us know which page you think is best organized for the photos: "Photos" or "Photos 2"
Please Note: Some photos on "Photos 2" are not on "Photos" as this is a trial run.
Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, and Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays.
-Matt
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posted Dec 17, 2008 6:34 AM by Matt Perkins
We'd like to take a minute today to wish Eric a very happy birthday.
Eric would have been 23 today. Please take a few minutes today to send a prayer to him as he parties with the rest in the skies above.
All the best,
The Perkins Family
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posted Dec 4, 2008 8:36 AM by Matt Perkins
[
updated Dec 4, 2008 8:58 AM
]
By Rob Borkowski/Staff writer
Wed Dec 03, 2008, 04:29 PM EST
Medfield -
The fourth annual Eric Perkins Memorial Football Tournament Saturday
morning at the Medfield High turf field drew a large crowd and easily
helped organizers meet their $3,000 fundraising goal.
“The participation was probably the best we’ve ever had,” said Erik Ormberg, tournament organizer and MHS football coach.
Ormberg said the event raised just over their goal.
“It’s about awareness,” said Joseph Perkins, father of the late Eric Perkins, in whose honor the tournament is held each year.
Four years ago, on the eve of Thanksgiving, the Perkins family lost
Eric Perkins to a drunk driving accident while the 2004 MHS graduate
was home from college, three weeks before his 19th birthday.
The driver, Eric’s friend Robert Leist, who was 19 at the time, was
under the influence of alcohol. Toxicology reports also showed he had
been smoking marijuana and had a blood alcohol percentage of .108 the
night of the fatal accident.
Leist was sentenced to two and a half years in the Dedham House of
Corrections in 2006. He served one year, with the balance of his term
under probation, Joseph said.
When it comes to the consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol, Joseph said, “Nobody’s immune.”
Sheila Gill and Brad Garnett, Eric's friends, created the tournament
to honor the memory of Eric, who had played football for four years for
MHS. His jersey number was 40.
Eric’s older brother Matt developed a Web site: www.forever40.org, where the family has asked friends to share their memories of Eric.
“He (Matt) put the entire thing together himself,” said Joseph
The event had jerseys and stickers available with “Forever 40”
printed on them as well, to help keep Eric’s memory alive, Joseph said.
At the start of each tournament, Joseph said, he tells the teams,
“If anybody asks you what “Forever 40” means, tell them Eric’s story,
and some way, somehow, it might save a life.”
This year, the 2004 football players led by Pat Cronin beat past
tournament champions, the 2006 Superbowl team led by Joe Brienze.
“It was a passing of the torch,” Ormberg said.
Proceeds from registering teams go to the Eric Michael Perkins
Memorial Scholarship. The fund supports a $1,000 scholarship, awarded
each year to a graduating senior on the football team
Ormberg said that regardless of other measures of the tournament, he
takes his cue from the Perkins family, and it’s “…seeing the looks on
their faces that really dictates to me whether it was a success.”
“I couldn’t have been more pleased,” Joseph Perkins said. |
posted Nov 30, 2008 7:47 AM by sma.2120@yahoo.com
IS THAT A WIG?
Ok, I've taken the family to south Florida to spend spring break at my mother's lavish tropical resort. Matt and Eric are
10 and 8 years old, respectively. We get off the plane, retrieve our luggage, rent our car and head over to Grandma's house.
We're all starving, so I stop at my favorite bar-b-q joint on the way. We get seated, order our chicken wings and ribs, and sit back sipping our drinks.....relaxing in the gorgeous sunshine waiting for our lunch to arrive. Suddenly, the hostess escorts a group of elderly ladies to the table right next to us. One of them turns to Eric, smiles and says "hello" as she is seated. Eric turns to me and asks, in his LOUDEST voice,
"Hey Dad....how come all the women down here have BLUE HAIR! " Anyone in the restaurant would have had to be deaf not to hear him. I glanced over to our waitress and hostess and they were doubled over laughing. I didn't have the guts to offer even the meekest of apologies to the blue-heads. Ah yes, "out of the mouths of babes........!"
Dad
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posted Nov 26, 2008 11:42 AM by Matt Perkins
posted Nov 26, 2008 6:56 AM by Matt Perkins
[
updated Nov 26, 2008 11:40 AM
]
Medfield Press: By Rob Borkowski/Staff writer
Tue Nov 25, 2008, 06:32 PM EST
Medfield -
The fourth annual Eric Perkins Memorial Football Tournament kicks
off this Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Medfield High varsity turf field,
with a goal of $3,000 and a little help from the Medfield Fire and
Police Departments.
Proceeds from registering teams go to the Eric Michael Perkins
Memorial Scholarship, and the precedent for meeting the fundraising
goal seems well-established. The first year, the tournament raised
$4,000 and the next year about $3,000 was raised, said Eric Ormberg,
organizer and MHS football coach.
Last year, the tournament raised $5,000, said Joseph Perkins, Eric’s
father. Last year the Fire Department donated items for a silent
auction, and they’ll be doing that again, this time with donations from
the Police Department, too.
“They’re probably our biggest contributors,” along with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), Joseph said.
The fund supports a $1,000 scholarship, awarded each year to a
graduating senior on the football team. The candidate is selected by
the varsity coaching staff. Last year’s recipient was Michael Aldinger,
“They pick somebody that exemplifies Eric’s dedication to being a team player,” Joseph said.
Four years ago, on the eve of Thanksgiving, the Perkins family lost
Eric Perkins to a tragic drunk driving accident while the 2004 MHS
graduate was home from college, three weeks before his 19th birthday.
The driver, Eric’s friend Robert Leist, who was 19 at the time, was
under the influence of alcohol. Leist faced four counts of motor
vehicle homicide in Dedham Superior Court, as well as a speeding charge
after a state police accident reconstruction showed he was traveling
more than 80 miles per hour during the crash. Toxicology reports also
showed he had been smoking marijuana and had a blood alcohol percentage
of .108 the night of the fatal accident.
Leist was sentenced to two and a half years in the Dedham House of
Corrections in 2006. He served one year, with the balance of his term
under probation, Joseph said.
Sheila Gill and Brad Garnett, Eric's friends, created the tournament
to honor the memory of Eric, who had played football for four years for
MHS. Gill approached Carol and Joe Perkins, Eric's parents, and asked
them if she could organize the tournament in his name. They agreed, and
the tournament's debut was a success.
“It’s been very, very successful. I’m very, very pleased with the generosity,” Joseph said.
The tournament has room for 20 teams, and
so far there are 17 teams signed on. Each team costs $100 to sign up,
$20 per person, he said.
This year, contributors to the fund and participants in the
tournament will receive “Forever40” stickers for their cars or windows
to show their support, and help keep Eric’s memory alive. Forty was
Eric’s number on the Medfield High football team.
Also in that vein, the family has launched a Web site: www.forever40.org, where they’ve asked friends to share their memories of Eric.
If you would like to contribute a donation or volunteer, please
contact Erik Ormberg at 508-359-2482 or eormberg@medfield.mec.edu All
are welcome to attend the games and cheer on a team. The event begins
at 10 a.m. at Medfield High School, 88R South St. | Hometown Weekly:
Celebrating unity
MATT PERKINS
26.NOV.08If
you've kept up with your fair share of Christmas music during the last
decade, you've probably come across a few tunes by the Trans Siberian
Orchestra. About four years ago, the band released it’s third Christmas album, entitled ‘The Lost Christmas Eve’. There
was a story within the booklet inside the album, and it had something
to do with an angel following a man who many years ago lost his wife
and was separated from his son. The pain he was able to ignore
physically and emotionally, but the wound cut his soul so deep that
he’d been bleeding from the pain ever since. The blood trickled behind
him as he walked along day to day, but no one aside from the angel
could see the “soul blood”. Now, I’m not going to go so far as
to compare myself to the man in this story, or anyone else who might
endure grief at one point or another during his or her life. That’s not
right, and that’s not why I’m writing this piece. No. I’m
writing this for a few reasons. The first and foremost is because the
blessed folks over at the Hometown Weekly were kind enough to let me
say a few words during this warming, and yet difficult, time of year.
It’s the second time I’ve been offered the chance to do this. Secondly,
my family and myself were cut rather deep about four years ago when my
brother Eric was killed. The wound isn’t one that’ll probably ever
heal, and even if it does, it’ll leave one hell of a scar that can’t be
ignored . . . even if I want to ignore it (which I undoubtedly will). What’s
more, on Saturday this town will pull together again for a tournament a
few of my brother’s friends generated a few years back. God bless them
for it. I’ve seen the town pull together for events like this before
and it’s always encouraging to see. It is within my undying
appreciation that everyone who has participated in the event since its
inception continues to do so, and with unquestioning commitment. I
thank you so much for this. It’s not something I ever expected. The
tournament aside, I’d like to take a second to touch upon Thanksgiving.
I think there’s one thing we can agree on and be thankful for today.
And that’s unity. That’s being here together. Now I don’t really care
if that sounds cliché or not. Most likely it does, but regardless, it’s
true. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last four
years, it’s that there is virtually nothing in this life more important
than love and family. That, and as Stephen King said during his speech
at the University of Maine's commencement in 2005, “Don't let the sun
go down without saying thank you to someone, and without admitting to
yourself that absolutely no one gets this far alone.” And here
we are again, four years later, to prove that. We’ll prove it
Thanksgiving Day in our homes to celebrate that for which we are most
thankful. And we’ll prove it again on Saturday when we rendezvous at
the high school. I hope, though, that it’s something we can
learn to prove beyond just this time of year, and I have a pretty good
feeling we can. As I began writing this piece, I sat at my desk
with headphones on and listened to “Faith Noel,” the first track off
‘The Lost Christmas Eve’. It’s a song I first heard only days after
Eric died. I bought the album at Newbury Comics in Framingham in an
attempt to get my mind off all of the chaos that was swirling around my
head at unprecedented speeds and sounds. Now, whenever I hear
that song, I’m instantly taken back to four years ago. I’m taken back
to a seat in my living room, where I sat surrounded by mourning but
ever-so-comforting friends and family; by a “safety net,” as a family
friend put it at the time. I’m taken back to a time in which my chest
felt as though it had been pierced with a large tree branch. It felt so
tough that I didn’t think it would stop. And it never will. And I think I’m OK with that. Let
me be clear on something: I’m nowhere near the vicinity of being able
to accept my brother’s death. It’s just in no realm of possibility for
me at the moment. But I do know that it will be. And this time
of year I’m reminded of that possibility. Which I find pretty ironic,
considering it was the time of year in which my best friend in life
left without a whisper. It’s a warming thought to know that each
year I can look forward to laughing at least once inside the home of a
friend, a family member; to know that two days after the feast of all
yearly feasts this town will come together in unity to celebrate not
only the memory of my brother, but to celebrate a cause, to celebrate
awareness, and most importantly, to celebrate unity. Yeah -- I think
I’m on the right track to at least closing the wound a little more. But I know that it would not be a possibility if it weren’t for the safety net. I
can go on and on and on trying to explain what a drunken roller-coaster
ride grief really is. But I have to deal with that in my own time, and
I don’t want to reflect on that now. Because if anything, while
this time of year is drenched in bittersweet emotion, it continues to
be my favorite time of year. And if anything, it’s because I know we’re
all going to pull together for each other. This year’s flag
football tournament to benefit the Eric Perkins Memorial Scholarship
will be held at the Medfield High School Varsity Football Field on
Saturday, November 29th at 10:00am. To make a donation to the
scholarship, or for more information on the tournament, visit
www.forever40.org. |
posted Nov 25, 2008 1:21 PM by Matt Perkins
posted Nov 20, 2008 11:40 AM by Matt Perkins
Just to confirm,
The date of this year's flag football tournament will be held on Saturday, November 29, 2008 -- the Saturday AFTER Thanksgiving. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any one of us.
Best,
Matt
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posted Oct 30, 2008 7:45 AM by Matt Perkins
This year, each team in the tournament will be given an NFL-oriented nickname (i.e., The Patriots, Dolphins, etc.)
Stay tuned in the coming weeks for the names and rosters of the teams!
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posted Oct 8, 2008 8:46 PM by Matt Perkins
[
updated Oct 9, 2008 8:02 AM
]
For those looking to start a team for this year's football tournament, which will be held on Saturday November 29th, contact Coach Erik Ormberg.
More info can be found on the Tournament page. |
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