The Just1Mike Foundation is asking Hinsdale residents to donate $27 on Wednesday, Oct. 7, what would have been Michael Brindley's 27th birthday.

Michael was a Hinsdale Central High School student who died of sudden cardiac arrest in 2016 at age 16 while playing basketball with friends at a summer camp near Chicago. His family created the Just1Mike Foundation to fund free heart screenings and place defibrillators where young people gather. The Oct. 7 donation drive, organized by the foundation's junior board, opens a month of events during Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month.

The foundation's junior board leadership team, Sophia Admire, Justin Carlevato, Spencer Mangone and Evelyn Skay, outlined the campaign in a letter published by The Hinsdalean. Donations of any amount are accepted through just1mike.org.

Since 2017, more than 5,640 students have been screened at Hinsdale Central through the foundation's partnership with Young Hearts for Life and Mend A Heart. Sixty-one were referred for further cardiac evaluation. At the 2024 screening alone, 1,657 Central students received free electrocardiogram (ECG) testing and 17 were identified with abnormal ECG results, according to a February 2026 letter to The Hinsdalean from Spencer Mangone, a sophomore at Central.

Mangone, who joined the junior board in fourth grade, wrote in that February letter that "the just1mike junior board works hard to raise awareness and funds so all Central students can receive the life saving gift of a free in-school heart screening."

Beyond screenings, the foundation has donated 41 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to public locations since 2020, according to its website. One of those units sits at Burns Field Park, where the village dedicated Hinsdale's first permanent public-access defibrillator on Sept. 21, 2021. Nationally, the foundation has helped bring ECG testing to more than 24,000 young people.

Two more October events round out the campaign. On Saturday, Oct. 10, Hinsdale Public Library will host a reading of "Looks Like You Need a Big Hug!," a children's book written by Michael's mother, Kristy Brindley, founder of the Just1Mike Foundation. The book, released on Oct. 7, 2025, was inspired by a phrase Michael often said to his family. Proceeds benefit the foundation.

On Sunday, Oct. 25, the junior board will hold a community walk.

Sudden cardiac arrest affects 23,000 children in the United States each year and is the leading cause of death among student athletes, according to the foundation. ECG testing can detect up to 85% of hidden heart defects, the foundation says.