Barbecue benefit, raffle to be held for NCDOT employee battling brain cancer

Published 3:33 pm Wednesday, March 15, 2023

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A barbecue event and raffle will happen from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 24 at Bethany United Methodist Church and at Aquadale Fire Department to support Kevin Bowers, who is undergoing treatment for brain cancer.

The benefit will raise money for medical bills Bowers and his family are paying.

Plates will be $10 and include barbecue, slaw, chips, bread and dessert. There will also be a delivery option for groups and businesses purchasing 10 plates or more. The cooking will take place at Bethany Fire.

Raffle tickets, which cost $10 each or three for $25, can be purchased at the Piney Point Golf Club in Norwood, where Bowers worked as an assistant pro for more than a decade.

The first place prize will be an AR-15, followed by a ping driver, a signed Josh Allen Buffalo Bills jersey, Piney Point golf package for four and a Buffalo Bills pullover (for three people).

The drawing will also be March 24, after which the winners will be contacted.

“It means a lot,” Bowers, a South Stanly High School graduate, said about the benefit. He appreciates the continued support from so many people in the community.

A North Carolina Department of Transportation employee, Bowers, 49, was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2018, after suffering from a Grade 3 malignant brain tumor. A similar fundraiser to help the family took place in January 2019.

After several years of being cancer-free, the cancer cells reemerged last year, his wife Amanda said. He has been undergoing daily chemotherapy treatments since November.

“There is not a better man than Kevin Bowers,” said friend Mike Crump, who is helping to organize the benefit. “I’ve never met anybody that can say a bad word about Kevin.”

Crump estimates 500 raffle tickets have already been sold.

For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Crump at 704-438-0711.

About Chris Miller

Chris Miller has been with the SNAP since January 2019. He is a graduate of NC State and received his Master's in Journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously wrote for the Capital News Service in Annapolis, where many of his stories on immigration and culture were published in national papers via the AP wire.

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