The family of Bernard Yates will hold a benefit fundraiser on May 25 beginning at 10 a.m. at the Montgomery County Coliseum. Proceeds from the Bernard Yates benefit will go toward the rebuilding of his home that was lost in a fire on March 14 and to help with his medical cost. Yates has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Prostate Cancer.
His granddaughter Amanda Cirilo said Yates is doing really good.
“He got up for the first time, got dressed and said ‘Come on, let’s go to Bridges.’”
Since the fire, Yates and her brother Will Yates, his wife Trina, and their family have been living with relatives.
Cirilo said her grandfather has had to undergo chemotherapy, radiation and take injections, costing $7,000 each. He said he didn’t do so well on chemo and had to be pulled off because it made him really sick.
Cirilo said her grandfather has insurance, but it only covers so much, and he still needs help traveling back and forth to the doctor.
“He has to go back and forth to Oxford, Grenada and Greenwood and the expenses would cover his travel,” she said.
Cirilo said they’re in the process of rebuilding their home and the home is being built by Jimmy Ware.
“The slab was able to be saved, and they’re going to build on top of the pre-existing slab,” she said.
Cirilo said at her grandfather’s old home, there was only one door and one way out, which nearly cost him his life during the fire.
“The new house is going to have three doors,” she said adding they’ll be more than one way to get out if something happens.
Cirilo said when it first happened, Yates’s friends, church members at Poplar Creek Nations, concerned neighbors in Poplar Creek and others were donating money and it was accumulating. So an account was opened at Regions Bank for those who wanted to make a donation.
But, there were finding that people still wanted to do things to help her grandfather, her brother and his family. That is when a benefit was planned.
Cirilo said there will be something for everyone Saturday. The family will sell crawfish plates with corn, sausage and mushrooms for $10 or for $5 a pound, barbecue plates for $10 each, which will include pulled pork, coleslaw and baked beans, and fish plates, which will include fried fish, hush puppies and fries.
There will also be concessions available selling hot dogs, drinks and so on. There will also a live auction beginning at 2 p.m., cake walks, toy walks, face painting, a raffle for a Henry Golden Boy .22 rifle and a .40 Keltec.
In addition to raising money for Yates, there will also be a table set up for the family of Aden Green and for the family of Trent Herbet.
