Cancer Sucks Charity Car Meet

On April 20, 2015, Amanda Smith was diagnosed with stage II cervical cancer. Although a long road ahead, Amanda is kicking cancer’s ass! With Gail Hargett, Amanda’s Mother by her side and her family, Amanda’s road to recovery is almost over, only a few more treatments away and as Amanda says, “she is making cancer her bitch!”

Amanda Smith is our girls school bus driver and we have known her for a couple of years now. Our Daughters at the age of 10 and 8 attend school in Anne Arundel County. To watch the relationship between Amanda and the girls is a pretty awesome sight. When Amanda stopped driving the girls’ bus and a substitute driver started coming around, we started to worry. We keep in-touch with Amanda through Facebook and text messaging. We learned of Amanda’s condition and my wife and I were trying to think of ways of how we can help. We can donate money to Amanda’s GoFundMe page, but a few bucks will only get her so far. So why not combine our passion for cars and create a charity event?  That became the creation of the Cancer Sucks Car Meet.

I made a couple of phone calls to close friends to get the ball rolling. Without hesitation they were on-board and we started putting things into motion. Pep Boys in Glen Burnie was gracious enough to allow us to host the event. With the power of social media within a couple of hours over 1500 people were invited and the RSVPs started to roll-in with people saying they were going to the event.

We laid out a plan of what we wanted to do to help make this event successful; raffles, bake sale, and get enthusiasts together to have a good time. My wife Jennifer and good friend Lisa started to canvas the community and request for donations of items to raffle off. The amount of support we have received is truly overwhelming. From large businesses to small businesses and several private donations, all came through to help make this a very successful event. (Please see the list of businesses and organizations below who have helped make this event a successful one.)

Cancer Sucks – AWARENESS

One of our primary missions of the meet is to help raise awareness. Amanda’s posts within the Cancer Sucks Car Meet Event Page was to let people know that insurance companies are waiting 3-5 years to have cervical cancer screening (pap test) done by your doctor. In most cases cervical cancer can be prevented through early detection. GET CHECKED SOONER!

via National Cervical Cancer Coalition: Each year, approximately 12,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in the United States.Yet cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers today. In most cases cervical cancer can be prevented through early detection and treatment of abnormal cell changes that occur in the cervix years before cervical cancer develops. We now know that these cell changes are caused by human papillomavirus, commonly known as HPV. The traditional test for early detection has been the Pap test. Now HPV tests are available that can be used with the Pap test in women starting at 30 years of age and in women of any age when the Pap test alone has found slightly abnormal cell changes. For more information visit: http://www.nccc-online.org/hpvcervical-cancer/cervical-cancer-screening/

Amanda Smith is holding a custom fabricated Cancer Sucks trophy
created by John Schill of Absolute Pro-formance to present to her
favorite custom ride of the evening.

Congratulations to Randy Brent for winning the Amanda’s Cancer Sucks Choice Award

The Event

On July 31st, The Cancer Sucks Car Meet kicked off, with over 250-300 cars rolling through and a mix of old school, new school and everything in between the Cancer Sucks Meet was a huge success. The event was hosted from 5PM to 9PM with custom rides showing up as early as 3PM. By 5PM the lower parking lot was full and by 6PM we were scrambling to find empty parking spots. With raffle tickets and baked goods being sold left and right, food, snowballs, DJ, and all of the vendors who have participated, this made for an awesome event.

The Grand Total

With over $5,000 raised, our goal has truly expanded beyond our expectations. Everyone who has helped make this a successful event, we are grateful. To all of the car enthusiasts who came out to the event, shared the flyer and event pages on social media, and to the businesses who have made contributions; what an awesome way to bring the scene together and to help Amanda and her family out.

Update: Yesterday, on August 1, we sat down with Amanda and went over her medical bills. Money orders will be generated for each of the bills and sent off to the companies to ensure Amanda’s medical bills are taken care of. This event has helped Amanda and her family out tremendously. Her husband Chris has worked non-stop everyday in an attempt to keep up with the bills. This will now put them back on their feet.

The Cancer Sucks Car Meet Raffle Tent, set-up and ready to go!

Sponsors and Advertisers – Cancer Sucks Meet

We wanted to highlight a couple of organizations who have helped us make this event into what it has become. Please do not allow this to take away from all of the other generous donations we have received, but we wanted to thank these guys for all their help!

Maisel Bros. Inc.

We would like to send a special thank you to Maisel Bros. Inc. (16 8th Avenue NW, Glen Burnie, MD 21061) for donating a $1000 Custom Hanover Fire pit for the most sought-after raffle of the night. People from all over literally came to this meet to win the fire pit. We have one in our backyard from Maisel Bros. and absolutely love it! Go check them out: http://maiselblock.com/

Mr. Pete – The Food Guy

Mr. Pete donated $450 to Amanda and her family and spent his evening throwing down some bad ass BBQ. We thank you for slaving in the heat, your generous contribution and for making this event much more special.

Twizted Intentions Custom Car and Truck Club – Maryland

We would like to thank Twizted Intentions Maryland for presenting a check for $250 to Amanda to help her with her medical bills. The club comes together every year and chooses a charity or someone in-need within the community and they make a contribution to lend a helping hand. This year the club chose to donate to the Cancer Sucks Car Meet on behalf of Amanda Smith.

Below is a consolidated list of all of the organizations who have contributed to this great cause in addition to several private donations from friends and family. Without them and the car enthusiasts, none of this would be possible.

I would like to thank…

The Maisel family and Schill family for helping us run the event. Everything from setting up, raffles, to parking cars. Without you guys we would’ve struggled.

Thank you to DJ Special K (Kellen) for providing all of the music and MC for the night. You did an awesome job, looking forward to working with you in the future!!

I would like to also thank several close friends, I would list all of you guys out, but I know I will miss a couple and don’t want to upset anyone. Several of you have asked ahead of time if we needed help with anything and we very much appreciate it!

Cell Phone Pic: Twizted Intentions of Maryland presents Amanda Smith with a check.

Cancer Sucks Charity Meet Sponsors

The folks who made it happen…

Please note we have tried our best to include all of those who have made a donation to support this event. By no means if you are not listed I did not do it on purpose, please contact me and I will include you within the list ASAP. I apologize in advance. Please fill-out our contact form, here. Thank you!!

Several private donations from friends and family were contributed to make this happen as well, thank you to all!!

A Thank you from Amanda Smith

August 1, 2015 | by Amanda Smith: I have always been the type of person that it is easier for me to say things better on paper.

I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart. All the time and effort that you all put into this event is beyond amazing. I have never in my life had too many people show me so much love and support.

Seeing all of you work so hard yesterday for my family and I melted my heart. It truly gave me a whole new outlook on life and the world.

This has been the hardest most terrifying thing I have ever went through in my entire life and because of you all things have been easier and less stressful. I never imagined this event would turn out as huge as it did. It just shows the hard work you all put into it. Again thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will spend the rest of my life paying it forward!

– Much Love, Amanda Smith

Thank you Amanda for the kind words and we thank you for spending the entire evening with us. With only a few more treatments left you can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are so happy to be able to bring so many great people together for you and to make this happen.

Wrap-up Cancer Sucks Post Coverage Photos

Cancer Sucks Coverage by Mike Mieczkowski, CarShowz.com