AFTON – The Afton Golf Club will host the second “It’s a Booby and Butt Thing” golf invitational in an effort to raise money for cancer patients. The shotgun start takes place Saturday morning at 9 a.m. The proceeds raised will be used to give cancer patients much-needed gas cards.
“I work for the Every Women Counts in Chenango County Campaign, which is a cancer outreach program, and a lot of women were contacting me about being unable to afford the cost of the gas needed to get them to medical centers for treatment,” said organizer Lori Kemmerer. On top of the steep price of chemotherapy as well as other treatments, cancer patients living in rural areas face the extreme cost of getting to treatment centers that are far away. Unlike most travel though, the trips that cancer patients make are a matter of life and death.
Along with fellow organizer Crystal Page, Kemmerer has family members who have undergone cancer treatment and knows first hand how difficult the process can be.
“Last year’s golf invitational was very successful and we are incredibly excited about this year’s,” said Kemmerer. The invitational has doubled in size from last year. Around 32 different teams have already registered. So many in fact that organizers had to use a waiting list.
A lot of food is being donated this year to the event and many cancer survivors will be doing the cooking. “A restaurant owner in Harpersville is cooking all of the meat that has been donated to us and bring it over Saturday,” said Kemmerer. On top of all of the food that will be available at the event, there will also be a Chinese auction.
Kemmerer would also like to spread awareness of cancer and early detection. “There is no reason anyone should every die of colon cancer these days,” she said. Colon cancer is a slow growing form of cancer that is easily detected and treated.