Well....what a Saturday night we had last night.
My friend Scott is back from Germany and is continuing treatments in New York. Last night, there was a benefit held for Scott to help his family cover some of the huge expenses that insurance doesn't cover for his treatment.
Friends and family gathered at the local Portuguese club. Over 1000 people were there for dinner, raffles, silent auction and dancing. It was a sellout. There were no tickets to be had even a month ago. The Portuguese club donated the use of the hall for the night!
A friend of Scott's family is an event planner and she donated here time and resources to organize the whole thing. Decorations were donated. Over 50 local businesses donated items for raffle...wine baskets, a Boston sports memorabilia package...and so much more. These businesses and other folks donated about 130 other packages, event tickets and things like...250 gallons of home heating oil...for a Silent Auction.
There is a local business the does all sorts of Italian and Portuguese food and catering...they are famous all over this region and have been in the same spot downtown for over 50 years. To walk into their shop is a slice of heaven as you smell all the wonderful dishes cooking in the back. These folks donated almost all the food for this event. A chicken parmesan dinner with all the fixins. A Porketta dinner followed after all that.
Forty seniors and juniors from the local High School donated their time and energy to serve the food and bus tables. What a great group of kids they were. They really made the evening.
A friend of Scott's owns an Entertainment company. He donated the lighting, sound systems, music and the band for the evening's entertainment.
There was practically nothing that was not donated for this benefit event. Half of the the "potent potables" were donated by a local liquor store. That was a huge thing. The out pouring of support and love for Scott and his family was amazing.
The highlight of the evening was when Scott made an appearance (against doctor's orders) and took the stage to say a few words of thanks to all.
He said, "Here is what a 6 month cancer patient looks like! I feel great and have very few symptoms anymore. I feel ready to shovel snow and split a cord of wood."
He stated he could not...would not...try to thank all individually for this because it would be impossible. He would surely miss someone and that would not do.
He looks great, says he feels great and if he had followed the recommend course of treatment, he would not be standing before us tonight.
I can't even guess how much this benefit raised for him. My best guesstimate would be in the high 5 figures. And everyone was glad to do it for Scott. He is such a great guy that everyone who knows him would gladly do more.
Just thought I'd post an update to show how much can be accomplished through love, faith and when a community pulls together for one of their own. It really can make a huge difference.
What a stunning display of humanity, thank you for sharing.
I don’t know how I missed this when you posted and pinged but am thrilled beyond words to see it now. I was updating my prayers list and decided to check the thread to see if you’d posted an update; it turned out to be more than I could have hoped for. Bravo for Scott, his friends and neighbors. Very heartwarming story. (and this was in NY? Upstate, I assume?)