A team of businesses, musicians and people came together Sunday to show finding a cure for cancer is a worthy cause.

Each played a role in raising $3,243 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at the first ever Summer Music Fest at the Brickhouse in Porterville.

Guests dined, danced and participated in raffles from 1 to 6 p.m. while various bands played. The restaurant’s 190-person capacity was about filled from 1 to 4 p.m., organizers said.

Musician Ladislao Prado set the tone early on for the day’s event.

“Anytime you give to a church or to a cancer society, I think [they] know what to do with your money better than you do,” he said after taking the microphone. “Giving is what makes this nation a great nation, because we give to the entire world.”

That's the sphere of impact the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training hopes to make. The team is the world’s largest endurance sports training program, composed of runners, walkers and triathletes who participate in major marathon events in the U.S. and abroad. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society covers airfare and lodging for these events, while participants pledge to raise money for it. They do this by obtaining personal sponsorships and organizing benefits.

Prado’s wife Heidi is preparing to run in the Women’s Nike Marathon in October, with the Central California Chapter of TNT. In an effort to raise the required funds to participate, she and Dawn Vinning, her co-worker at the Sequoia Family Medical Center, teamed up to organize the Summer Music Fest.

Vinning plans to participate in an event next year.

“She’s doing the hard part. She’s running the marathon,” Prado said.

It took plenty of community volunteerism for Sunday’s event to come together.

“It’s just been an army of people doing a little bit of everything,” Susan Boyd, Brickhouse manager, said.

Boyd and the restaurant owners donated their building for the event because, “It was just a really good cause,” she said.

“One of our employees is dealing with cancer right now,” she said. “Just about everybody knows somebody dealing with cancer.”

That’s why so many people either donated or helped in some aspect of the event, she said.

Vinning and Prado estimated about 60 businesses chipped in to donate more than 100 raffle items. Raffle tickets cost $1, $5 and $10. In the first hour, it took a buy-one-get-one-free deal to attract participants, but by the second hour the money bins were filling up because a lot of people were winning items, Vinning said.

Five local bands donated their time to come out and play an hour session each. They were the restaurant’s house band Big Bad Wolf, The Wildoats Band, Ken Nordin and the High Sierra Band, Rhythm, and rapper Young Haze with a group. In the last hour, children were able to play Guitar Hero.

Becky Brown, Director of the TNT Central California Chapter, came out to led a helping hand to organizers.

TNT participants will usually raise money through yard sales, concerts and other similar events but, she said, the Summer Music Fest had a significant show of volunteerism, attendance and donations.

“This is very well put together. [The organizers] have done a great job,” she said. “They did a fabulous job at getting raffle prizes. This is great because they have so many bands involved. This area is very supportive.”

Vinning beamed as she made her way around the room, greeting people, taking pictures and tending to the hectic raffle room. It was everything she hoped for.

“People are dancing and having fun,” she said. “If a person buys a raffle ticket for one dollar, they’re helping someone. It’s not an effort to help someone when you’re doing it together.”

Money raised at Summer Music Fest will go directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for blood cancer research, education and patient services.

-- Contact Sabrina Ziegler at 784-5000 or sziegler@portervillerecorder.com.