Page 44 - MyCottleville Magazine Jan/Feb 2017

Mark Brown has made a lot of friends over the last decade. The long-time UPS driver, husband, father and grandfather didn’t set out to make friends, but rather to be a friend, when he started his “Friends Helping Friends Association” charity 10 years ago.
“It just seemed like every time I turned around somebody needed help with something,” Brown said. “My wife and I liked to go to trivia nights, so I started holding them and putting the money in the bank.”
At the time, Brown got some good advice from an old pro at fundraising—his father, the late St. Peters Mayor Tom Brown. “He told me I needed to set up a charity,” Mark Brown said. “He said I couldn’t just throw money in the bank.”
So Mark took his father’s advice, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Since then, Mark has helped countless people throughout the St. Charles County area who have needed everything from assistance paying bills to clothing for their children. One hundred percent of the funds Friends Helping Friends takes in goes to help those in need.
Mark doesn’t just hand out cash, though. Friends Helping Friends has a unique purpose to take care of the problem, and it works.
Most of the requests come by word of mouth. “I don’t give anyone money. For instance, a friend of a friend told me about a couple who needed help,” Mark said. “Their daughter was on crack and had left her kids with her mom and dad who lived in a trailer park and were on a xed income. Winter was coming, and the kids had no winter clothes. The friend got me their sizes. I went out and bought boots and coats and pants, everything they needed.”
By: Robin Seaton Jefferson - Special Correspondant
Another “friend” was on disability and unable to pay his heating bill, Mark said. “Many times that’s what it is. Peo- ple are behind on their rent or other bills. Or they may need clothes. Sometimes I help food banks.”
Mark makes friends everywhere. And sometimes, unbe- knownst to him, they’re actually old friends. One request came on behalf of a coworker’s son’s wife’s mother, who coincidentally Mark had delivered packages to as a UPS driver years earlier. The woman had stage four cancer and needed help paying medical bills.
Through the charity, Mark organizes a trivia night once a year. The idea isn’t too com- plicated, it’s just a big job for one person. “It’s just me,” he said. Planning for the event can take up to ve months. He arranges for the location, sells at least 35 tables, takes in donations, makes sure there are snacks and drinks, and researches the trivia categories and questions.
The event is usually held at St. Robert Bel- larmine Church in St. Charles or Fireman’s Hall in St. Peters. He banks the money fol- lowing the event, and draws on it all year to answer the calls of those in need. The event typically raises about $11,000 each year, he said.
Friends Helping Friends isn’t the only charity for which Mark has helped organize a trivia night. He assists with the trivia event bene tting Meals on Wheels every fall. That event has raised some $80,000 in the last ve years, he said.
In the end, it’s really all about helping people and making new friends, Mark said. “I have a hard time telling people no.”
Look for Friends Helping Friends Association on Facebook.
Life Long St. Peters Resident
Makes a Difference for Local
Families in Need!
“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive,
and is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” -- Anaïs Nin
We Support Friends Helping Friends, Assoc.
Friends Helping Friends, Assoc. is a St. Charles County based charitable orga- nization founded by, life-long St. Peters resident, Mark Brown. It was created to help local people in nancial and health related crisis. 100% of the funds received through donations and fundraising events are used to help people that might otherwise not be able to get the help they desperately need.
44 | MyCottleville Magazine