Tattoo For A Cause Raises Thousands in St. Cloud

(KNSI) – More than 200 people got inked in St. Cloud on Saturday, with the proceeds going to local charities.

Fresh Skin Tattoos and KNSI sister station Wild Country 99 teamed up for the first Tattoo For A Cause event. The event was scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m. but started early and didn’t stop until after 11:00 p.m.

WILD Country 99

Morning show host Matt Wood was there the entire time and said he’d never seen anything like it.

“The line was crazy! Some people waited over 12 hours to get a tattoo. And hearing people’s stories was really just the icing on the cake. To hear of how many people overcame things, persevered and battled every day. It was truly an amazing event.”

People could choose from 22 designs in support of amnesia awareness, anorexia/bulimia, autism awareness, cancer, Crohn’s disease, dementia awareness, mental health, Parkinson’s disease, or veteran suicide awareness.

Fifteen dollars from every tattoo, plus free will donations, goes to various groups supporting that effort in Central Minnesota. There were so many people that 75 tattoos were delayed until Monday. Wood says they easily beat their goal of raising $4,500, adding people waited because the tattoos meant something to them. He also got two tattoos for his kids, who h calls his “two favorite little people.”

WILD Country 99

“I got two for my two favorite little people. I got two causes that meant a lot to me. I’ve got almost two full sleeves of tatoos. And these two are without a doubt my two favorite tattoos because they mean something to me and I know a lot of people came out there that got tattoos like that. There wasn’t a single person who left that tattoo shop regretting their decision.”

Wood got a tattoo for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism awareness. Wood’s morning co-host Kelly Jordan says he got his first tattoo at the event for a cause near to his heart.

“I got my tattoo right where they discovered my wife’s tumor. It’s a breast cancer ribbon for my wife who was diagnosed back in February and I got it for her.”

Organizers say they hope to hold Tattoo For A Cause event annually.

Wild Country 99 is owned and operated by KNSI’s parent company Leighton Broadcasting.

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