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Dewey Beach is a place of memories and promise for the family and friends of Kent McCullough, a Selbyville native who died of melanoma in February 2006 at the age of 36.
More than 250 people joined Saturday, May 3, for the third annual Mela-No-More KENTucky Derby fundraiser at Northbeach Restaurant and Bayside Bar to celebrate Kent’s life as they raised more than $57,000 in funds to help the Melanoma Research Foundation work to find a cure for the disease that took his life.
“Kent loved Dewey and having the fundraiser here - doing it this way, is a way to honor him,” said Kent’s sister, Kim Lewis. “He would have loved it. Good friends, good music and good times!”
“Kent was my best man at my wedding,” said Matt Sullivan, an event organizer working closely with the McCullough family. “We met at the University of Delaware and then we both met our wives at the Lighthouse.”
The goal of the fundraiser was to raise $50,000, the amount required to have a Melanoma Research Foundation grant awarded in the memory of an individual. “We’re going to crush it this year,” Sullivan said as Saturday’s event began. More than $23,000 had already been raised in advance sales, he added.
“Matt was right,” said Kim McCullough, Kent’s wife. She reported that the accounting as of Tuesday, May 6, showed more than $57,000 had been raised through ticket sales, donations and the live and silent auctions, with more fundraising activities scheduled throughout the month.
“It’s still hard to believe that turning a crank at the Bottle & Cork made more money than a beach house for 12 for a week,” Kim McCullough said, referring to a live auction bid of $2,000 by one of Kent’s fraternity brothers, Chris Denney, to be able to sound the air horn at the Bottle & Cork to call beachgoers in for a drink at the bar some Saturday this summer. “But that’s part of what Dewey’s about - memories and experiences.”
“This is the third year we have raised more than $50,000. Once again the people have been extremely generous. Kent would be proud,” she said.
The event’s success is attributable to many factors, Sullivan said, including support from the Town of Dewey Beach.
Mayor Dell Tush issued a proclamation April 12 declaring May 2008 Melanoma Awareness Month in Dewey Beach in memory of Kent McCullough. She urged people to learn about prevention and detection of the disease and to support research by participating in the Mela-No-More KENTucky Derby fundraiser and by supporting the Melanoma Research Foundation.
Community support extended beyond Dewey Beach to other areas in the Cape Region.
“It is very important for people to learn about melanoma, especially in our beach community,” said Carolyn Marshall of Lewes, whose husband Tom has been battling the disease for three years. Marshall assisted Kim McCullough is obtaining silent auction items for the fundraiser and attended the event with her husband and friends.
The Starboard donated $1,000 of its Friday night proceeds and local merchants provided many auction items. Dancing to Love Seed Mama Jump and dining on delicacies ranging from crab cakes to tortellini and from chicken to tenderloin set the stage for a fabulous afternoon.
“This is Kent’s party. He died two years ago,” 11-year-old Emma Olender explained to another young girl when asked why they were there.
Though melanoma is reported to be one of the easiest types of cancers to cure if discovered in the earliest stages, Sullivan said that for Kent the diagnosis came too late.
“He died within two years of being diagnosed. His daughter was born in October and he passed away in February 2006.”
All money raised is being used for melanoma research through the Melanoma Research Foundation.
The foundation reports that while melanoma accounts for only 4 percent of skin cancer cases, it accounts for approximately 79 percent of skin cancer deaths.
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