BROWNSBURG — Everyone needs a little faith now and then, and a local group has been working for some time now to help with that.
The Go Hawg Wild for Charity Hog Roast will return from 2 to 11:30 p.m. Oct. 27 at Brownsburg American Legion Post 331. This is the major fundraiser for Act of Faith, a non-profit organization that works to aid the serious and terminally ill in the community. The organization has no paid staff so 100 percent of the money raised goes to helping others.
This is the fifth year that Act of Faith has held its charity hog roast. The event features live music, games, a silent auction, and all-you-can-eat food cooked by experienced hog roasters who have their own special sauces.
“We’ve actually been doing fundraising for several years but we started in really heavy in honor of a woman who was diagnosed with lung cancer,” said Kim Rodgers of Act of Faith. “Six weeks later, she’d lost her job. Ten weeks later, she lost her insurance and there she was faced with terminal cancer with no way to pay her bills and bill collectors don’t seem to understand that.”
Rodgers said an organization stepped up to help that woman pay her bills and that motivated them to start Act of Faith.
“We wanted to extend those blessing to those who are struggling,” she said. “Unless you see it, you just have no idea and they struggle with losing their homes and their cars, even the medicine they need. We have helped over 50 families since we officially incorporated. Unfortunately, the way it goes, most of them aren’t with us today, but this is what we do.”
Rodgers estimates that the group has raised $50,000 over its five years in existance. The group will typically pay for anything from medicines to house payments, electrical bills, car payments — anything that is creating additional hardship for those in the most sordid of situations.
“Mostly it’s in the form of monthly expenses,” she said. “Maybe it’s a house payment, rent, utilities bills are a big thing, car insurance, we just basically try and pay all of your monthly bills. We’ve even made credit card payments for people.”
She said they don’t typically buy material things, but they did purchase a new bed for a cancer patient who needed one to move into a house with her mother.
“Most people, they just don’t understand,” Rodgers said. “I have a cousin going through this right now. People might have insurance even, but the co-pays alone will kill you when you get into all this, then some of the medicine isn’t covered and you have to fight to get that. We’ve paid COBRA insurance for someone before just to keep their family afloat. What it does is release the stress off the family so they can focus on the true things that are important in life and that’s love and family. The main thing is that they get some relief and they get to enjoy life.”
Steve Pyatte has worked with the group for years, even having the chance to meet some of the beneficiaries of Act of Faith’s kindness.
“I personally have seen this where funds have taken the burden off and they can concentrate on their health and not worry about where funds are coming from,” he said. “It’s an amazing feeling knowing that God has made these funds available, because we give all the praise to God. It’s His work. We’re just the arms and legs. It’s just something that’s on our hearts and when we see someone that benefits from this, from someone that has a serious illness or terminal illness, the last thing you want to think about is ‘how am I going to pay my house payment, electric bill, get back and forth to the doctor?’ We help them so they can concentrate more on their health and not worry about that.”
Rodgers said the majority of the people who participate with Act of Faith never even meet the people they help.
“So many families are out there needing,” she said. “We have a long haul ahead of us. We’re just praying that we raise a lot of money so that money can provide financial support to these families all winter long into the spring.”
Tickets to the event are $7. The Brownsburg American Legion Post 331 is at 636 E. Main St.
For more information about Act of Faith, visit the website at www.actoffaithorg.com or contact Rodgers by e-mailing to actoffaithorg@yahoo.com.
Just the facts
WHAT: Charity Hog Roast
WHEN: 2 to 11:30 p.m. Oct. 27
WHERE: Brownsburg American Legion Post 331
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