Don't Miss Grateful father organizes event to benefit young transplant recipients

Updated 4:00 PM July 28, 2003

Don't Miss: Grateful father organizes event to benefit young transplant recipients

By Kara Gavin
UMHS Public Relations

Merchant of Vino and a famous BBQ chef will team up to raise funds for a new U-M Transplant Center camp and raise awareness of organ donation.

On July 26 at the Merchant of Vino store on Plymouth Road in Ann Arbor, the benefit "Cookout for Kids and Silent Auction" will help raise money for a summer camp being launched by the Transplant Center. Organizers, led by a father whose daughter's life was saved by a liver transplant, also hope the event will raise awareness of the life-saving potential of organ donation.

From 11 a.m.-4 p.m., the public will join U-M transplant team members and patients, the Merchant of Vino team and event sponsors for ribs and chicken cooked by world-renowned barbecue chef Billy Bones using his special sauces.

The rain-or-shine event also will feature live music, a live remote broadcast by Kool 107 radio, activities for children, including face painting and clowns, and ice cream. The silent auction will feature items donated by a number of sponsors. The event also will offer a chance to help raise more money by shopping at the Merchant of Vino that day.

All proceeds raised from the sale of food and auction items at the cookout, along with 5 percent of proceeds from all in-store purchases that day, will help send 60 young transplant recipients to Camp Michitanki (for "Michigan Transplant Kids") at the Michigan YMCA camp in August.

It is the first time the Transplant Center has organized a camp where young patients can just be kids, in the company of other children and teens who have been through life-threatening illnesses and the suspenseful wait, major surgery and long-term recovery of a heart, liver or kidney transplant.

The July 26 event was conceived by Bob Callegari, a former Ann Arbor Merchant of Vino team member whose 6-year-old daughter received a life-saving liver transplant at the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in October.

"It's amazing how strong transplant kids are, and the courage they have to go through what they do every day," Callegari says. "These kids live with the prospect of death every day—if anyone deserves something it's them.

"But we also want to help everyone focus on the importance of organ donation," Callegari adds. "Just by filling out a card and telling your loved ones that you want to donate, you can make sure that when you're dead and gone, you can still do someone good, and save someone's life."

Callegari and the teams hope to raise at least the $20,000 still needed to send 60 children and teens to Camp Michitanki this summer, and perhaps more to help fund the camp in the future.

The event's main feature, a Billy Bones barbecue in the Merchant of Vino parking lot with Bones at the grill, is becoming an annual summer tradition at the Ann Arbor store. For the benefit, Bones is donating his time, equipment and sauces.

The silent auction will feature everything from bicycles, wine and a hand-painted vase to a Detroit Tigers baseball ticket package, a big-screen television and a spa package.

For more information on donating to the event, call Merchant of Vino at (734) 769-0900 or visit http://www. http://merchantofvino.com.

Don't Miss: Grateful father organizes event to benefit young transplant recipients

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