Marathon honors Sharf family for raising $850,000 for locals in need

Marathon City Council gave Andy Sharf, his wife, Betsy, and their daughter, Peyton, a standing ovation on April 14 after recognizing the family’s years of fundraising that have brought about $850,000 to Monroe County residents in need.

Mayor Lynny Del Gaizo presented the National Volunteer Week recognition, and the city’s proclamation named April 19-25, 2026, as National Volunteer Week in Marathon. The resolution said local volunteers support nonprofits, schools, environmental initiatives, civic programs and emergency preparedness, while helping preserve the island environment, assist vulnerable residents and promote compassion and cooperation.

For Marathon, the Sharf family’s work has become one of the Middle Keys’ most dependable informal safety nets. Their effort began in 2017 with a fundraiser that raised $33,000 for Monroe County Sheriff’s Office crime scene investigator John Underwood after he lost his home in a house fire. That event set the model for the years that followed: public, personal and repeated campaigns for neighbors facing medical bills, disaster losses and other sudden setbacks.

Among the largest recent drives, a fundraiser for bartender Rachele “Roach” Kruse brought in $138,000 as she fought cancer. Earlier efforts have included a benefit for Mallory Martin that raised more than $127,000, and a fundraiser for John Kissick, part of a pattern that Keys Weekly said had become a familiar way for the Overseas Pub and Grill staff to rally around local causes. Sharf later moved his community fundraisers to Marathon Grill and Ale House after leaving Overseas Pub and Grill.

The city’s tribute also pointed to the scale of Marathon’s volunteer culture beyond one family. Sharf was previously named Marathon’s Stanley Switlik Philanthropist of the Year in 2024, a sign that his work had already become part of the city’s public identity rather than a one-time gesture.

Sharf has said the work helps him be a better father and husband, and he has repeatedly credited his family and others who show up to help. He has also pointed to a Penn State friend, Jeremy Crouse, whose nonprofit CHAMP, or Creating Hope And Making Progress, grew out of a 2012 effort to help children with cancer tied to Letterkenny Army Depot in Pennsylvania. By 2014, Crouse said, seven children were battling cancer, and the effort eventually raised more than $1.2 million.

In Marathon, the lesson is less ceremonial than practical. When a fire, diagnosis or other crisis hits, the Sharf family’s fundraisers have repeatedly turned local turnout into cash fast enough to matter. The council’s recognition made clear that city leaders see that as civic leadership worth repeating.