SAUGUS — Comedy fans can catch Johnny Pizzi, Mark Riley, and Artie Januario at Giggles Comedy Club on Feb. 13 for a fundraiser supporting Flight4CF, a charity dedicated to fighting cystic fibrosis.
CF affects almost 40,000 people in the United States. It is a rare genetic disease that causes continuous lung infections and limits the ability to breathe over time, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Flight4CF, based out of Danvers, was founded by Richard Little, whose daughter was diagnosed with CF. Little has found a unique way to raise money for a cure.
“A comedy show is not normally our type of event, but what we do is raise awareness and funding for cystic fibrosis through the use of aviation,” he said. “We started by giving airplane rides, which turned into helicopter rides.”
Little continued that they’d have events with bouncy houses and food trucks along with full-blown air shows. “Our first show was in 2018. We took that event and grew it into a much larger scale. We have four events planned this year at different airports,” he said.
The charity’s full air show happens in Beverly, but they also incorporate skydivers and remote control planes at other shows.
“The remote control planes are a huge hit. They allow the kids to come, and they go into something called a buddy box, and they get to fly the planes,” Little said.
He said that he was amazed by how many people would bring their airplanes out. He continued that he’s a full-time pilot for JetBlue and that the company always gets involved with Flight4CF events.
Little explained that the comedy show was a way they could continue funding during the winter. “I wouldn’t have thought of it, but when you have a great team of people come together, it always works out,” he said.
He continued that this would be their first event of this kind, and if it works out, they hope to continue it in the future.
The event includes free cheese pizza and soft drinks, along with raffles.
You can follow Flight4CF on Instagram and Facebook for updates on all upcoming events.
