Andrew McMahon's foundation plans to host cancer benefit
The dinner Aug. 5 will be made with produce from south OC's Ecology Center
South Orange County native and musician Andrew McMahon and his Dear Jack Foundation are hosting a benefit dinner in San Juan Capistrano on Aug. 5.
The family-style, farm-to-table feast at the Ecology Center will include courses made with farmgrown ingredients and crafted libations. The dinner will be capped at 72 guests, who will be able to engage in conversations with one another and with McMahon and his Dear Jack Foundation community, which supports young adult cancer patients and survivors.
Tickets are $300 and net proceeds go to the foundation and the patients it serves. Tickets can be purchased at theecologycenter.org.
McMahon started the foundation in 2006, a year after he was diagnosed and successfully treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia via a life-saving stem cell transplant, with his donor match being his own sister, Katie.
He's hosted numerous benefit concerts through the years with his bands, including Jack's Mannequin, Something Corporate and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, to raise money for the Dear Jack Foundation's programs.
The foundation provides oneon-one patient support and wellness programs and offers family support. In the past, McMahon has teamed with organizations like the Love Hope Strength Foundation to get his fans to become part of the national bone marrow registry. In 2016, McMahon
said about 6,000 of his fans had signed up and done a cheek swab to become a potential donor for those with blood cancers. Of those fans, 66 were told they were a match for a cancer patient in need, and 16 went on to donate cells to give a cancer patient a second shot at life.
“I get chills when I talk about that,” McMahon said during a 2016 interview. “I think, like any patient or survivor, you try to find ways to make what you went through have meaning, and for some people that comes more easily than others. For me, it took some time to figure out what my purpose was beyond just being an inspiring story to tell. The big picture stuff has really come through in the last couple of years, like the birth of my daughter, for one, and the work we've done at the foundation.” McMahon will join the Sad Summer Festival Tour on its final date at FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine on Saturday. He dropped his fourth studio with Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, “Tilt at the Wind No More,” on March 31. The album includes the singles “Stars,” “Skywriting,” “Built to Last” and “Lying on the Hood of Your Car.”