Standing Here with My Brother

On Saturday, November 14th, The Tommy Brull Foundation will host its 2nd Annual Fundraiser to benefit at Cannon’s Blackthorn in Rockville Centre. Tommy Brull was a local surfer who passed away almost ten years ago in a tragic accident and the foundation, which bears his name, aims to provide direct assistance to individuals with mental, physical or emotional challenges in our broader community (Nassau and Suffolk).

Last year’s inaugural event drew heavy local support from the Rockville Centre community and not-so-surprisingly given co-founder Martin Brull presence in the lineup, from the local surf community. Bringing the extended surf community into the fold is a long term goal of both Marty – the “Militant One” – and his brother and co-founder Jack. Marty and I spoke via email about the birth of this special organization, it’s growing success and the support – both local and worldwide – for this year’s event.

What made you decide to start the Tommy Brull Foundation?
My brother Tommy passed away almost nine years ago in a tragic accident. As you can imagine, this loss was very difficult for our family and friends to cope with. Over the years we have discussed different ways to remember Tommy, but the time wasn’t right for our family. Last year, this topic resurfaced and with the help of long time friend Keith Lucchesi we decided to create a non-for-profit organization named “The Tommy Brull Foundation, Inc.” So far, the main people involved in this foundation are my brother and sister, Jack and Lauren, their spouses, our friend Keith and my wife Shara.

Tell me a little about Tommy.
Tommy was a great friend and brother. It is really difficult to describe a person after they are gone. Since he passed at such a young age, I guess I will tell you about his personality as a young adult. Tommy always stayed true to what he believed in and never strayed from that. He never felt the need to impress anyone. He was the ‘what you see is what you get’ type of guy.

Tommy was gifted at creating unique individual relationships with the people he was close with. Many people have told me that Tommy gave his full attention to whomever he was with. This was evident when we would go to a party. He would not have ten people around him as he told a story, instead he would be hanging with one or two people talking. He really enjoyed making people laugh and feel important to him. One friend told me that Tommy would make him feel like they were the only person in the room when they spoke. Everyone I know had his or her own unique relationship with Tommy. Even after starting this foundation, people are coming out of the woodwork telling me stories of their relationship with Tommy and how good a friend he was to them. Friends also speak about the major impact he had on who they are today. It is really amazing to hear these stories. I can see that one of our goals is already being achieved, the goal of keeping his memory alive.

Knowing you and Jack, I’d imagine he was hooked on surfing.
Tommy had many hobbies including writing, reading, music, photography, and surfing. He grew up with surfing in his life since he was a grom. Our older brother Jack used to bring us down to LB to surf in the early 80’s. He was really hooked on surfing right before he died.

I have one particular surf story of Tommy etched in my memory to this day. He flew down to Miami to meet up with me in 1999 (the same year he died). We knew a swell was hitting so we drove north to one to the inlets. It was raining all day and the wind was hard out of the east. I lent him a board and we paddled out in the rain to surf a semi ragged head high wave. After surfing for about fifteen minutes the wind whipped around west and groomed the wave perfectly. The wind then died down and it was on. Tommy and I were switching little barrels all afternoon. We were so stoked hooting at each other. By the way, he smoked me that day.

Anyway, it was not just the surf that made that day special. The front was passing just enough that the sun started to come out as it was beginning to set on the land. The lighting was spectacular. It looked like a brush fire in the dunes. The light then lit up the brown barrels into crimson, orange, and yellow tubes. If that was not enough, we looked out into the horizon, which was still dark gray, to see a perfect double rainbow. We were tripping out. It looked like a mixture of the apocalypse and an acid influenced Griffen painting.

The funniest thing about the session was that everyone started getting out of the water. We could not believe that people were leaving this session. Later on we realized why the lineup was empty when we were locked in the park in the dark for a couple of hours before being rescued by a salty old fisherman who had a copy of the key and let us out. We then drove home to my apartment and celebrated with some beers at a bar, which ended up with Tommy taking his shirt off in the bar. It always seemed to end up that way.

What about the Ladybug?
Our friend Keith Lucchesi designed the logo. Traditionally, it is a symbol of love and luck. It became a symbol for Tommy among our friends initially for a different reason. It’s a long story, but Tommy got a tattoo of a ladybug on his thigh sort of as a joke. This goes back to the ‘what you see is what you get’ philosophy. He would kid with me and say: “Why can’t guys get ladybug tattoos? I think it’s tough.”

After he passed away the ladybug has been a constant reminder that he is with us. There have been countless times when friends and family were really hurting and a ladybug would just pop out of nowhere. I have had a ladybug land on my arm in the middle of the winter while walking on the beach thinking about Tom. Since then many people have tattooed the ladybug on themselves to remember Tommy.

What is the Foundation’s goal?
We wanted to create a foundation that paralleled some of Tommy’s values. Tommy, along with our sister Lauren, Keith and myself grew up working at Camp ANCHOR in Lido Beach. Camp ANCHOR is a recreational camp for children and adults who are physically, mentally, and emotionally challenged. We spent many great summers at this camp helping children and adults enjoy the beach and other recreational activities. We decided that the mission of the foundation is to raise funds to benefit people with physical, mental and emotional disabilities in our community. We feel that this goal best captures Tommy’s caring and empathetic nature.

How much are tickets to the event?
Ticket’s cost $60.00 at the door, which includes an open bar and buffet. The event includes a silent auction, raffles, food, live music and most of all – good conversation. Space is limited so to reserve a ticket in advance or to make a donation, please send a check payable to The Tommy Brull Foundation, Inc to:

The Tommy Brull Foundation, Inc c/o Martin and Shara Brull, 609 North Long Beach Road, Rockville Centre, New York 11570

What are some of the auction items?
We have a bunch of confirmed donated items including custom board from walker, pimped out 9’6″ custom resin tinted lb from Maritime Surf Shop, shortboard from Unsound, and a fun shape donated from the Island Mermaid in Fire Island. We also have confirmed baskets from RVC Surf, Maritime, Unsound, Mollusk, Smith sunglasses and photos from Tommy Colla, Jack Brull, Mike Nelson and Matt Clark.

We will also be raffling a 42″ LG LCF flat screen TV, a mountain bike and tons of other baskets from local businesses.

Will there be any special guests at this year’s event?
Michael Machemer is going to be DJ’ing the event, and as you know Andrew Kidman is in town and this year we’re honored to have him play a live solo set.

Where will the proceeds go?
This year we will be donating to the Camp Anchor Building Fund as well as to Kevin McDermott. Kevin is a track runner from Chaminade and Duke who suffered a C-5 spinal cord injury on July 5. He just graduated and injured himself in a pool last summer in the Hampons. I read about him in the paper and presented it to the foundation. We are also going to donate a portion of the proceeds to the Young Autism Program, which is an organization that tries to gear up preschoolers for the regular education classroom setting.

How do you see the Tommy Brull Foundation evolving?
I hope that the foundation has a steady growth and is able to withstand the test of time. I know that foundations can be hard to maintain, but I would like to see our foundation have a profound effect on people’s lives and to see us get involved in bigger projects such as concert benefits, surf contests and golf outings. I want my brother’s memory to live.