Comedy fundraiser Sunday, April 9 at Giggles

By MARK SARDELLA

When last we heard from Salem Street resident Danielle Resha, she had won a trip to Superbowl 51 by doing the most pull-ups in 95 seconds in the Live ULTRA Pull-up Challenge sponsored by Michelob ULTRA.

Well, she’s back from Houston, and witnessing Tom Brady and the Patriots pull out an unbelievable come-from-behind Super Bowl victory has inspired her to give something back. She will be participating in Tom Brady’s Best Buddies Challenge charity bike ride in June.

“I’m going to do a 100-mile bike ride from Boston to Cape Cod on June 3 to support Best Buddies. She hopes to raise 3,000 for the charity.

One of the ways that she’s raising money is by organizing a comedy fundraiser at Giggles comedy club on Route 1 in Saugus on Sunday April 9 featuring two of Boston’s favorite comics, Lenny Clarke and Christine Hurley. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 and must be purchased in advance. The price includes the the show and pizza. You can purchase tickets on Danielle’s PayPal site or email Danielle.Resha@gmail.com.

Best Buddies® is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The IDD community that Best Buddies serves includes, but is not limited to, people with Down syndrome, autism, Fragile X, Williams syndrome, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury and other undiagnosed disabilities.

Participating in the June 3 Best Buddies Challenge will be celebrities and pro-athletes  such as Tom Brady, Julian Edelman, Guy Fieri, George Hincapie and Christian Vande Velde, among others.

There’s no doubt that Danielle Resha is up for the Challenge. Fitness is more than just a hobby for the 2011 Wakefield High School graduate – it’s her livelihood. She owns and operates the 128CrossFit gym at 581 Salem St. She played three years with the Boston Militia, a professional, full-tackle women’s football team owned by Ernie Boch, Jr.

The main motivation for Resha is completing the Challenge and supporting Best Buddies. But there’s a little bonus in it for her, too. If she’s successful, she’ll have a chance to meet and have her picture taken with the greatest quarterback of all time.

Now that’s a challenge worth completing.

[This story originally appeared in the Wakefield Daily Item.]