Various Chelmsford Businesses Help With Bauman Fundraising

At this point, it’s unclear how much Chelmsford resident Jeff Bauman will have to pay for medical procedures and other required expenses in the adjustment after losing both legs from the Boston Marathon explosion, but one thing is for certain: however much money it is, Chelmsford residents will help him get it.

In addition to online fundraising, particularly the Bucks for Bauman website,  local businesses are also doing their part to help Bauman get whatever money he needs.

One of those places is Zesty’s Pizza, where employee and long time Bauman friend Jillian Harvey helped spearhead a fundraiser last weekend at the pizzeria where 10 percent of all sales and 100 percent of all tips went to Jeff.

Harvey, who also helped start the Bucks for Bauman website, hopes all of the fundraising efforts can help her friend return a sense of normalcy to his life.

“The way he was (before the Marathon) is the way he still is now; he’s one of the nicest people you could ever know. I know when  things like this happen, people say ‘it couldn’t have happened to a nicer person,’ but in this case, it really couldn’t have happened to a nicer person,” she said. “He’d give you the shirt off his back. To have this happen to him just isn’t fair.

The Zesty’s fundraiser gathered $1,500 for Bauman, and it’s not the only one in town.

This Friday, Yobite on Chelmsford Street will also be doing a fundraiser , and this weekend, there will also be a fundraising effort at Big League Haircuts on Summer Street.

While Big League Haircuts manager Laurie Hagg didn’t know Bauman personally, many of her customers do, and immediately after she heard the news, she felt the urge to do something.

“We don’t know how much we can raise, but we’re hoping to get him as much as we can,” said Hagg. “We can just hope for the best.”

Other current fundraising events include a May 5 concert at the Village Smokehouse in Lowell as well as a larger fundraiser on May 10 at the Radisson, just to name a few.

More information can be found on the Bauman fundraising Facebook page.