You're invited to join us for one of the best parties this town has ever seen. Together, we'll dine on unlimited pizza samples from many of the best craft pizza makers in the city, sip on craft beer from local breweries flowing from never-ending taps, and dance the night away listening to a top local band. 100% of proceeds from CRAFT are donated to local and national cystic fibrosis research efforts. Together, we'll change the definition of CF from that of a life-shortening, family-destroying, tomorrow-stealing disease into an acronym for CURE FOUND, all while partying the night away! We are offering our Cure CF friends the opportunity to buy tickets NOW, before the general public, with an exclusive presale.
Mark your calendars for October 7th
Buy your tickets online NOW with the exclusive Cure CF insider code! Enter this presale code to buy your tickets now: Orkambi
Visit THIS LINK to purchase your tickets NOW!
Our Story
In early 2015, a small group of parents who didn’t know each other particularly well, decided to meet over a cold beer at a local brewery in Louisville, KY. The one thing we had in common... kids battling cystic fibrosis. That night the Klausings (Luke 8 years old at the time), the Foushees (Alex 2 years old at the time) and the Sweeneys (Samuel 8 months old at the time) decided to work tirelessly to rally their city to join the fight to save their kids and beat CF once and for all.
And CRAFT was born...
We knew that in order to tap into the heart of this city, we had to design an event that embodied the very best of what Louisville has to offer. It didn’t take us long to realize that all of the pieces to make a great event already existed right here: the pizza, the beer, the people and a whole lot of asks.
What started as a small group of dedicated parents has grown into a small army of friends, family, businesses and even local government. Together, for one night each year, we’re going to bring it all together to throw the best party this town has ever seen, raise some serious dollars to battle CF and celebrate another year of Louisville’s drive towards a cure.
Together, we’ll see the day that CF stands for Cure Found!
It would be impossible to pull such an awesome event off without the help and generosity of people like you. There are lots of ways to get involved with this year’s event. Whether as a sponsor, a food or beverage contributor, donating items for our auctions or as a volunteer, we’re incredibly thankful to have you onboard!
The easiest way to get in touch with us is through the “Contact Us” form or by emailing us at .
CRAFT 2015: Bringing together pizza, beer and the fight against Cystic Fibrosis - WLKY
Beer and pizza come together to fight CF with CRAFT 2015 - WDRB
CRAFT Louisville festival brings beer and pizza together for a good cause - Insider Louisville
Media/PR Contact: Deryl Sweeney -
Contact Us
Special Thanks
Luke's Story
Watching 8 year old Luke on the playground or at football practice, you would never guess he was battling a chronic illness. Luke was diagnosed shortly after birth with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that primarily affects his lungs, but also his intestines, pancreas and liver. Luke knows maintenance is the key to keep him healthy, so he doesn't complain about the eight breathing treatments, hour-long lung percussions or 30 medications he has to take daily. His community really rallied to help him feel like a normal kid. After school, you'll find Luke surrounded by his neighbors and playing video games while he completes his breathing treatment. Since Luke's diagnosis, his family members have become passionate advocates of cystic fibrosis research and treatment options. They often speak at events and participate in hospital fundraisers, encouraging donations that will give Luke the best chance at a long and healthy life.
Luke is a huge fan of the Kentucky Wildcats and Green Bay Packers.
Samuel's Story
Samuel's life can be characterized by one word so far. Surprise!
After 2 failed attempts at IVF and countless tears and prayers, we had 3 frozen embryos left to use to try and get pregnant. These embryos were not ideal from the beginning, and given our previous failed attempts with better looking embryos, we had no hope of getting pregnant. In fact we had an appointment already set up across the country to see a specialist and try to start over. But March 21, 2014 we finally heard the words we had been waiting over a year to hear "Congratulations, you are pregnant!" And so was the start of our miracle baby.
Pre-natal screening identified that mom was a CF carrier but follow up testing on Dad for the 30 most common mutations revealed he was not a carrier. We had an uneventful, wonderful pregnancy and after a very long few days of labor and delivery, Samuel was born on December 1, 2014 at 3:38 in the morning. He was perfect, weighing in at the generous size of 9 lb 2 oz and went home from the hospital 2 days later. One week after being home, while we were busy trying to figure out how to be a mom and a dad we got a call saying that Samuel's newborn screen came up positive and he may have cystic fibrosis. He had a follow up sweat test and then on December 19th around 4 pm we got THE CALL.
THE CALL no parent wants to get. The CALL that tells you there is something wrong with your baby, The CALL that says your baby is hurt, The CALL that every parent dreads, The CALL that stops the whole world and takes your breath away at the same time. We were brokenhearted, in disbelief and we couldn't believe that God would do this to our baby. Mom clutched her newborn to her chest and fell to the ground on the kitchen floor screaming out and asking God why? This was the second Surprise that little Samuel would bring to our lives. This was the call that told us our perfect baby had a deadly disease.
So there we were, going through the motions of daily life with a newborn trying to wrap our heads around the fact that our perfect baby had a deadly disease. We researched, started medications, found doctors and sought out specialists. We learned how to do chest physical therapy, found researchers willing to work with us and made new friends. We were angry at God, yelled at God and thanked God all at the same time. And somehow here we are, 9 months later, with a perfectly healthy baby boy. He has grown well and has had no issues so far. We hope that with our continued efforts, he will remain healthy.
Our family has jumped in with both feet, and our extended family and friends have jumped in with us. Team Samuel Strong has raised over $20,000 this year to find a cure for Samuel and everyone else affected by this disease. And, out of a labor of love, 3 families affected by this disease created CRAFT. What will be known as one of the premier events in Louisville year after year started from a few parents that just hope to see their children live long, healthy, happy lives.
Alex's Story
One glance at Alex and you will see that she is a typical 2 ½ year old. She is energetic, happy, curious, and loving. She loves to dance (to Taylor Swift), color, learn new things, and swim in the pool. She thinks bugs are gross, burps are funny, and she doesn’t like her hair brushed – at all. She amazes us every single day with a new word or knowledge bit. And she tries our patience with the usual toddler outbursts and attitudes.
If you watch long enough, though, you may see another side to this little girl. She is patient (most of the time), cautious (usually), and incredibly brave (always). She sits through hours of therapy and breathing treatments each day. She takes more medications than most adults (and has done so since she was just a few weeks old). Before meals and snacks, she takes enzymes that help her body absorb nutrients from the food she eats; she takes special vitamins and other medications as well. In the past year, Alex has spent around 8.9 days’ worth of time inhaling nebulized treatments to help her breathe, endured close to 15 days’ worth of time doing vest therapy to keep her lungs clear, and taken almost 2,200 pancreatic enzymes to absorb nutrients from her meals. We work very hard (and diligently), and we are aggressive with treatment to ensure that Alex stays as healthy as possible.
Alexandra Elaine was born in April 2013. It was a very easy pregnancy and an even easier birth. We stayed in the hospital for a few days before being sent home as a new family of three. We were equally excited and scared – newborns can be very intimidating to new parents! But Alex was a perfect baby – she loved to be held (but not swaddled!), slept, ate, and rarely cried. At five days old, when we had our first visit to the pediatrician’s office for the usual well-baby checkup, we were told that Alex was not back up to her birth weight. Slightly concerned, we were told to come back in another week and not to worry. “This isn’t unusual,” they said. We returned the following week, expecting some weight gain. However, despite feeding every two hours around the clock, Alex was diagnosed with ‘Failure to Thrive,’ as she still had yet to get back up to her birth weight after nearly two weeks. The pediatrician had noted that she had some abnormal findings with her newborn screening; the follow-up genetic testing later would confirm the diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis (CF).
We were crushed and confused – it came completely out of the blue. Neither side knew of any family history of this disease. It was easily the most difficult day/week/month/year of our lives. Having a newborn is hard enough, but getting that kind of diagnosis on top of it – well, it was definitely hard. That same week, we took Alex to her first (of many) CF Clinic appointments where we met an amazing team of doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, social workers, and dieticians. We were able to start medications that same day and saw an immediate improvement in weight gain – those medications saved her life. Within a week, Alex had gained more than a few pounds. It was truly remarkable. Alex’s weight issue is caused by the inability of her body to release enzymes that aid in the breakdown and absorption of the food she eats. It was such a great relief to see our baby girl beginning to thrive!
We reached out to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) shortly after Alex’s diagnosis. We wanted to do something; but, because there is currently no cure for this disease, we felt helpless. We began doing the only thing that we could think of – raising money for the CF Foundation to aid in a fight for a medical breakthrough! Because Cystic Fibrosis is considered an Orphan Disease, it does not get the attention of big pharmaceutical companies. Nobody is competing for the “Next Big CF Drug” like they are for other, more prominent diseases (like heart disease or breast cancer). There is no major incentive for companies to invest in CF research. Without the CFF and its aggressive efforts in eradicating Cystic Fibrosis, we would not be able to enjoy our daughter like we do today. In the last two years, our family and friends alone have raised over $63,000 for the CF Foundation. But this is not enough… In an effort to make an even bigger impact and ensure that our daughter will have a bright and healthy future ahead, we decided to join forces with other families fighting the same battle. When a group of CF parents get together – mighty things happen – and events like CRAFT are born.
Alexandra means “Protector of Mankind” in Greek. Before Alex was born, we decided that we wanted a strong name for our daughter – we just didn’t realize how strong she would be. Alexandra Elaine will definitely make miracles. We do not treat her differently; we do not treat her special – she is our 2 ½ year old daughter: the typical toddler. We do not expect pity, or sadness, or sorrow. We have felt these feelings in the past, but we have found that you can accomplish more when you reroute that state of mind toward a more positive goal. We are extremely lucky to have a beautiful daughter – there is only her future to celebrate!
