After not hosting the Annual Brendan Tevlin Good Vibes & Easy Living Lacrosse Festival last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the yearly event will be back on Saturday, August 7th, from 11 a.m.-7p.m. on the Brendan Tevlin Field at the Kelly Athletic Center in West Orange, N.J. Games will be followed by a BBQ at the nearby Shillelagh Club.
Tevlin, a former lacrosse player at Seton Hall Prep and Livingston resident, proposed to his friends that they organize a pick-up lacrosse game during their summers home from college as a way to give back to the sport and worthy causes.
But, tragically, the following night on July 25, 2014, a Muslim extremist gunman, in a senseless act of violence, randomly shot and killed the 19-year-old Tevlin–who was home for the summer after his first year at the University of Richmond in Virginia–at a West Orange intersection.
Wanting to honor Tevlin’s amazing, altruistic, loving spirit, his friends held the first lacrosse festivals just a month later. The festival has grown into more events since then and into the Good Vibes & Easy Living Foundation in 2017.
Good vibes, easy living was the mantra that helped guide the avid surfer’s young, impactful life. Now, the foundation carries out his unyielding passion for service and raising funds for charitable endeavors in his heroic memory. Proceeds are donated to charities and organizations that best match his spirit, interests and love of life.
“To remember Brendan, and share good vibes,” Telvin’s friend and foundation board member Mike Condon said of the motivation behind the lacrosse festival foundation. “What we decided to do is spread Brendan’s message. Out of something so dark, something so amazing came out of it. Brendan was all about giving back.”
The Good Vibes & Easy Living Foundation is an all-volunteer operated non-profit that supports unbelievable organizations such as the JustinTime Foundation, which provides timely support for children and families who suffer the unexpected loss of a parent or guardian.
Additionally, the foundation lends a helping hand to the Where Angels Play Foundation, an organization that has built over 35 playgrounds across the country. Plus, Be The Match ®. which has managed the largest and most diverse marrow registry in the world that works every day to save lives through transplants, along with other charities.
Condon said that a particular Tevlin saying resonates with and inspires him to do what he can to make each lacrosse festival better than the last.
“Bredan used to say, ‘If the world would stop spinning, would you be happy with what you have accomplished in your life?,’” Condon, 26, recalled. “It’s just about spreading that type of positivity. He truly lived by exactly that, doing good things for others. He was about the good vibes.
“I really want to be able to build on the success we’ve had,” Condon continued. “We really want to help grow the game and help people in need in the process.”
To register for the festival and to play, which costs $25.00, go to Register — Good Vibes & Easy Living (goodvibeseasyliving.org). The cost for non-playing participants is $10.00.
Follow the Good Vibes & Easy Living Foundation on Facebook@ https://www.facebook.com/goodvibeseasyliving/, on Twitter @GV_EL_BPT, and Instagram @goodvibeseasyliving.
— Jerry Del Priore
Photos: Good Vibes & Easy Living Foundation.
Brooklyn Sports World/NY NJ Sports World 