Show Time

On Sunday October 18th At DiPiazza's In Long Beach there will be a benefit show for Jay. The bands are:
Smogtown
Harbortown Saints
The Junk
With Special Guest,
Dano And The Juke Joint Freak show

Show starts at 6:30pm Sharp!
All Ages
$10


20% of all Dinner receipts with be donated to the Jay Thomas Special Needs Trust.
Come on out for a great show and for a great cause.

5205 E. Pacific Coast Hwy.
Long Beach, Ca 90804
(562)498-2461

Over 250 anchors, over 10 hours, over $5,000 and all for a good cause....priceless.

On Saturday July 11, 2009 White Lotus Tattoo hosted its 1st annual Anchors for Jay Tattoo Benefit in Laguna Hills. Owner and artist Kris Stencel and his staff tattooed anchors on first come first serve customers for $20. All funds raised were donated to the Jay Thomas Special Needs Trust. Customers had a choice of 5 different anchors and had the option to get color or just black and grey. Friends from Spaghetti Bender to fellow surfers all got anchor tattoos. Our lovely dear friend Dano Forte got one as well on his way back from some tasty waves down south. Even sixty year old ladies were getting their first tattoo's for $20 and donating to the benefit.

The event was scheduled to start at noon, but when Kris and his staff arrived at 11am, there was already a line. They tattoo machines were dragged out, stations were set up, bbq was cooking and music was playing and the incredible staff and volunteers at White Lotus Tattoo worked their butts off for over 10 hours straight. "I didn't even take a break", said Kris Stencel, "I just kept my head down, tattooed and said, 'Who's next?'".

There was a wait list about an hour to two hours long and the great neighbors next to White Lotus were kind enough to put out chairs and allow patrons to sit inside out of the heat until they got tattooed. The Jay Team was in full effect and people from as far as Victorville came down and got a sweet $20 tattoo.

The OC Register came down a did a little story on the event and were kind and generous as always. Jay was able to make it down, even due to the fact that two days prior to the event, his van overheated. But again and as always with tremendous grace and motivation, Jay's amazing friends really pulled through and got the van fixed just in time for Jay and his best friend Shane Trulin to make it down to the event to give thanks and to say hi to his huge amount of amazing friends and to complete strangers who put their skin on the line for a good cause.

A huge thanks goes out to Dana Dencklau for the whole idea and Kris Stencel and his staff for putting on an amazing event. Thanks go out to James Thomas, Maren Carrillo and JEFFREY ANTENORE at the OC Register for the photos.

Thi$ $aturday...Anchor$ Away!!!

White Lotus Tattoo is located in Laguna Hills @ 24781 Alicia Parkway Unit C 92653 (Between the 5 Freeway and Hon, in the Wendys® parking lot). www.whitelotustattoo.net
Choose one of these 5 designs.
Come on...
Everyone is doing it!!!

Anchor$ for Jay!!!

Ok, time for another fundraiser! On Saturday July 11, 2009 Jay's good friend Kris Stencel, tattooer and owner of White Lotus Tattoo, and his team of artist will be tattooing anchors for $20 to raise money for Jay. Their goal is to do at least 100 of them, first come first serve. They will be tattooing the same anchor on everyone that comes in. Cash only! So bring your friends and their friends and come down to get tattooed for a good cause. All proceeds will be going to the Jay Thomas Special Needs Trust. We'll see you there!

Dano Party

On Friday June 12th, 2009 the Hurley warehouse in Costa Mesa held Dano's 20th year of shaping surfboards party. It was an awesome event with live music, free drinks, some classic cars and of course surfboards. Jay, his father and brother, along with many friends all came out and had a blast. It was a good night to get away and let loose a little bit. Tom Cozad of Newport Surf Shots, was kind enough to let us have a few photos of the event. Thanks Tom.

The Bender Brunch

So Sunday June 14th, 2009 Bender Brunch was an amazing success. The turnout was awesome, and all the food donated by the restaurants was fantastic. There was rice, beans, ham, some mexican dish thing, sausage, cookies, cake, brownies, cookies, apple and raspberry pastry things, cookies, and mimosas! All of the bender staff donated their time and energy and worked hard from 7am till 3:30pm setting up, cleaning up and breaking down for the brunch, they all came back an hour later and worked the regular sunday hours with out skipping a beat. The Thomas family would like to thank them all for everything they have done and especially Janie Barger for making the whole event possible. She, along with Julie Weber from Mothers Market, worked together as an amazing team lining up all the food and help to make the event run smoothly. Janie made a few calls and got a few special guest to make an appearance which included Bob Yant, http://www.fscip.org/Yant.htm and Dr. Suzy Kim http://www.healthgrades.com/directory_search/physician/profiles/dr-md-reports/Dr-Suzy-Kim-MD-E00B240A.cfm who are great recourses for SCI and are familiar with Jay's condition and a surprise appearance was also made by our friends at New Beach Alliance as well. Jay was excited to see everyone that showed up and barley had time to eat himself. Thanks to everyone for their hard work and donations. It is greatly appreciated. Here are a few pictures from the brunch.

Coffee Mug's: $15 can be purchased at Mothers Market on 17th st. in Costa Mesa or

At Spaghetti Bender on PCH in Newport Beach.

Dano's 20th Anniversary

Tonight at the Hurley warehouse in Costa Mesa, Dano is having a party! Its his 2nd not so annual Blossoming of the White Lotus. Celebrating his 20th year of shaping surfboards! There will be bands, beverages, art and of course, surfboards. Jay, his father and brother will be attending as well, and are really looking forward to seeing many of the Blackies crew in attendance. Please tell your friends to come on down and join in the fun.

Bands: Dano & the Juke Joint Freakshow

The Cormans

Cost: $Free.99

Time: 6pm to 10pm.

Address: 1945 Placentia ave.

Costa Mesa, Ca 92627

June 14th, Sunday Funday!

On Sunday June 14th, The Spaghetti Bender in Newport Beach is having a benefit brunch for Jay. Jay worked for the bender for about 10 + years and his brother James is still a current employee there after 8 years or so. Shocking! We know. Now the Spaghetti Bender is giving back for all the years of Jays hard work that, over the years, has built some amazing friendships along the way. Close friend and general manager Janie Barger has spent countless hours getting donations from all over Orange County. Donations from restaurants include: The Spaghetti Bender, Mothers Market, Britta's Cafe, Golden Truffle, Quiet Woman and Freds Cafe and Cantina. We also are having cases of champagne donated and the kind folks over at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf are going to be donating coffee as well. The bender staff are donating there free time to help set up and serve for all those that attend. The hostesses are making cookies and more sweets and everyone is pitching in. If you feel like helping doing dishes or taking out the trash, your more than welcome to help yourself. Tickets are on sale now for $40 a person and there will only be 120 available. They are selling fast so hurry up and get one. All ticket sales go to the Jay Thomas Special Needs Trust. The brunch will start at 10am until 1:30pm. If you need to purchase a ticket feel free to contact Jay's brother James at jtgdshc@yahoo.com. or contact Janie Barger at the Spaghetti Bender 949-645-0651. Jay will be attending and we are all looking forward to having a good time. Hope to see you there!

Let the bidding begin!

Available now on Ebay are items from the show on May 18th, 2009. They include 2 Fender CD60 acoustic guitars that has been signed by the members of Social Distortion, The Vandals, The Black Tibetans and Japanese Motors. A Gibson Les Paul electric guitar that was played and destroyed by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails at their show in Lisbon, Portugal on February 11, 2007. This guitar is signed by the entire line up which includes Trent, Jeordie, Josh, Aaron and Alessandro. A 6'0 x 18 1/4 x 2 1/4 Channel Islands surfboard with FCS fins, that will be personally autographed by Kelly Slater. Kelly will sign a personal message to the winner of this auction. Please note that the surfboard in the photo is not the same board you will be bidding on, but it will be exactly like it. A L.A.M.B. handbag that was designed, used and autographed by Gwen Stefani. A Dean electric guitar that was played and destroyed by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails at their show in Madrid, Spain on February 15, 2007. This guitar is signed by the entire line up which includes Trent, Jeordie, Josh, Aaron and Alessandro. A Yamaha RBX170 electric bass guitar autographed by Gwen, Adrian, Tony and Tom of No Doubt. And an autographed Tony Hawk Birdhouse skate deck signed by Tony Hawk as well as two Tony Hawk t-shirts (Youth XL and Youth Medium), a Trick Tips DVD, Boom Boom Huckjam DVD, two Proving Ground Nintendo DS games and a TH hat.

A huge thank you goes out to Social Distortion, The Vandals, The Black Tibetans, Japanese Motors, Nine Inch Nails, No Doubt, Gwen Stefani, Trent Reznor, Tony Hawk and Kelly Slater for all their generous donations. We can't thank you enough. All proceeds from the sales of the items listed above will go to the Jay Thomas Special Needs Trust.

Here is the link to view this auction...Good Luck!

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/angelofsin_W0QQ_dmdZ1QQ_ipgZ50QQ_sopZ12?_rdc=1

Are you ready to ROCK!

Monday May 18th, 2009 the House of Blues in Anaheim held a benefit show for Jay. The bands included were Social Distortion, The Vandals, The Black Tibetans, and The Japanese Motors. The show was an amazing success. Many of Jay's friends and co-workers came out along with his family and made it a beautiful night to remember. Thanks to the amazing Jay-Team who made it all happen and did an amazing job behind the scenes. A huge thanks goes out to the House of Blues,Ticket Master and all of the people that donated goods for the benefit. And last but not least, a huge sincere thank you goes out to Shane Trulin, without him this amazing event couldn't have been possible. Thank you to Natalie Moser for taking these great photos and be sure to check out her work here:
www.nataliemoserblog.com
www.nataliemoserphotography.com

Dano catches 80 waves!!!

On Tuesday May 12th, 2009, Dano held a surf-a-thon at Blackies. It started at 9am to 11am. At the final horn, Dano caught his 80th wave. With Jay's brother James and fellow surfer Steve keeping track of the wave count, 3 year old Stuart Jeremias allowed them to have a few chocolate cookies on the house to hold them over till lunch time. An amazing contribution from Rich Knight who not only sold hats from his work and donated the money, he also donated $10 a wave! A total of $800. Everyone was baffled by the generosity and the Thomas family can't say thank you enough to him and all those who donated and participated in getting the signatures they needed to make this a very successful surf-a-thon. Special thanks to Laylan Connelly at the Orange County Register and also to The Daily Pilot who did amazing stories on the event and did a great job with the information provided in each article. And a special thank you goes out to Dan Forte, the surf-a-thon would not have been as successful with out his motivation, determination and sheer perseverance to make this event a tremendous success. Here are a few photos from the event taken by Tom Cozad at newportsurfshots.com

Party Time!

On May 1, 2009 there was a get-together/ party extravaganza held at Jay's new headquarters. There was a great turnout and plenty of food and drinks. Most of Jay's closest friends showed up and everyone got to catch up with one another and shoot the breeze. Jay was super excited to see everyone together and everyone had a blast. We can't wait until the next party May 18th, 2009 House of Blues in Anaheim With Social Distortion!

May 3, 2009 TWSA Bolsa Chica

They Will Surf Again (TWSA) a sister organization to Life Rolls On held an event on sunday May 3, 2009 at Bolsa Chica. The purpose of this event is to get individuals with spinal cord injuries active again. Most of the athletes who participated have surfed before and for a few, it was their first time. There were 35 athletes and 150 volunteers. They biggest turnout for TWSA ever! 

Jays brother James volunteered for this event and said it was an amazing experience. From 9am to 2:30pm James, amongst 149 other volunteers and his team, (the blue team) took about 6 athletes surfing that day. Each athlete had a half an hour surf session and almost all of them caught at least 3 waves. With about four teams total and 15 volunteers per team, there were plenty of people in the water. 

There was free food and drinks for everyone, and lots of smiles being had. It was an amazing turnout.

Jay is out of Long Beach Memorial!

On Thursday April 23, 2009 Jay was released from Long Beach Memorial Hospital and is now residing with his father in Brea. Jay's room has been outfitted with the necessary equipment needed for day to day activity, however due to countless complications with the supplier and the apparent necessity to be a rocket scientist to be a delivery driver, Jay's equipment has been uniquely modified by his father and his brother James. With the help of the families great friends the Greenlee's, and newcomer Preston, Jay is eating home made meals with actual flavor, constancy and texture, unlike the soft serve peas and carrots that he was receiving at Long Beach.  

Outpatient therapy is scheduled for next week at Hoag Hospital. Request to commence outpatient therapy at St. Jude Rehabilitation Center, across the street from Jay's residence, has been denied 3 times by his insurance company. Appeals to the insurance company are in the works as we speak but therapy must continue. Although Hoag Hospital isn't Jay's and the families first choice for outpatient therapy Jay, for now, will be closer to the beach where we all know his heart is. 

The good news is however, Jay's benefit show at the House of Blues on May 18th is SOLD OUT!!! It's going to be an amazing show and we all can't wait. Hang in there Jay!

Bob Yant Meets with Jay

On Easter Sunday, Bob Yant and his wife Anne came to visit Jay and his family and Long Beach Memorial Hospital. the visit went well. Bob and his wife spent over two hours with the family discussing a lot about the current developments in SCI research, Jays day to day progress and his upcoming out patient therapy. Jay is making steady progress in PT and gets shaky and cold from time to time, but his willingness to give anything a try, shows that his strong will runs deep. Everyday seems to bring a new challenge, but Jay is not fazed by it. He confronts each obstacle with strength and determination. Jay can't wait to get out of LBM which is scheduled for April 23 and neither can we.

Our meeting with Bob Yant

James, Bob and Britta

On Saturday March 4th 2009 James and Janie from the Spaghetti Bender had a meeting with Bob Yant and Britta at Brittas Cafe in Irvine. This guy is incredible. He has raised millions of dollars for non-profit organizations dealing with spinal cord injuries and spinal cord research. He has a wealth of knowledge and its quite overwhelming. He has so many recourses from housing facilities to neurosurgions specialist who are working on a cure for SCI. He had his accident in 1981 diving in Newport Beach and now is a quadripalegic. He has a daughter and a wonderful wife and he is truely an inspiration. He definatley wants to meet Jays parents and Jay as well when he is ready. Check out more information about him and about Brittas Cafe in the links below.

http://www.fscip.org/Yant.htm

http://www.spaghettibender.com/

http://www.brittascafe.com/

Jays First Day At Long Beach Memorial Hospital

March, 13th 2009:
Here is Jay's first day at Long Beach Memorial Hospital with his family,

and his first day in his wheelchair.