Alley 21 Neighborhood Grille in Hillsboro is co-sponsoring and hosting a benefit Sunday to help with the medical bills for a former longtime employee and friend.
Hillsboro resident Lowell Leber, who knows works at Butterbee’s American Grille in Mount Orab, recently had open heart surgery, and Alley 21 is teaming up with Modern Woodmen of America Chapter 3689 to help take care of the medical bills.
Faye Gann is one of the managing partners of Alley 21. She told The Times-Gazette the fundraiser is set for Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day, from 2-6 p.m.
“He had a very serious heart valve operation and had been off the job for several weeks,” she said. “We wanted to help make his recovery much better and to show our appreciation for his hard work and loyalty at Alley 21.”
She said that Leber worked at Alley 21 for about seven years, and the benefit for him will feature many of the fun things that the restaurant has done in other recent fundraisers.
Tyler Ayres, the activities coordinator of Modern Woodmen for the local region, said unexpected medical emergencies can happen at any age, young or old.
“You just never think of a younger person having all those big medical bills,” Ayres said. “Being a fraternal financial services company, we’re able to use our non-profit status to help give back to the community by matching funds in benefits like this one at Alley 21.”
He pointed out that though Leber isn’t a Modern Woodmen policy holder, that doesn’t stop the company from wanting to be a part of Sunday’s benefit since its philosophy is to try to be of service whenever there is a need in the community.
“You can imagine having an operation like this and what the medical bills are with lost wages,” he said. “Things like this benefit will go a long way to helping out the family while he gets back on his feet.”
Gann said that donations of items for the silent auction can be dropped off at Alley 21 through Sunday afternoon and that any questions can be answered by calling Gann at 937-840-0200 or Roxie Brunk at 937-515-9316.
Ayres said that Modern Woodmen would match all the proceeds from the benefit up to $2,500, and that last year the company gave out almost $53 million nationally in matching funds to charitable events, in addition to more than $160,000 in southern Ohio alone.
Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.
