Zap Cancer: Drew Zeppa benefit concert

When: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Saturday, April 11

Where: Boys & Girls Club Sequim, 400 W. Fir St.

Cost: $10 per person or $20 per family

Tickets: At the Boys & Girls Club or online at www.gofundme.com/drewzeppa

More info: Boys & Girls Club 683-8095.

A second-grader at Greywolf Elementary, Drew Zeppa recently returned home from Seattle Children’s Hospital where he fought and won against a form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“He’s almost completely back to normal,” Andrew Zeppa, Drew’s father and single parent, said.

In response to Drew’s return home and to health, and to assist with expenses associated with his diagnosis, officials with the Boys & Girls Club, members of the Trey Green Guild and individuals from the Greywolf PTA have collaborated to host a benefit concert, “Zap Cancer,” Saturday, April 11.

“We’re expecting a really fun, family event,” Janet Gray, a Trey Green Guild member, said. “The partnership between the organizations helps to leverage the community awareness.”

Highlighting the support and collaborative spirit of those with the three organizations, come Saturday, the Boys & Girls Club will be converted into a concert venue with The Strait Shots Band taking center stage. Accompanying the live music, is a raffle, dollar dance-off and food and beverages available throughout the event.

“Each organizer was able to contribute in their own way,” Gray said. “The club is providing the space and really the ‘nuts and bolts,’ members of the Greywolf PTA are able to help get the word out to families and Drew’s story is an example of what the guild supports,” she said.

For nearly 10 years the Trey Green Guild has raised funds for Seattle Children’s Hospital to help ensure the hospital can provide uncompensated care. Last year, more than $1 million of uncompensated care was given toward patients from Clallam County alone, she said.

Gray also is the resource development director at the Boys & Girls Club, where Drew and his older brother Trent go each day after school. However, for the past four months, 7-year-old Drew, along with his brother and father have all lived in Seattle so he could undergo five rounds of chemotherapy.

Despite the trio being quite close-knit prior to Drew’s diagnosis, their experience in Seattle has brought them even closer, Andrew Zeppa said.

“We’re really close,” he said. “I am so proud of both my boys. Trent was always there for his brother.”

Although Zeppa was able to return to his job, it’s been an adjustment coming back and picking up the pieces after rushing to Seattle Children’s Hospital months ago.

“It’s pretty surreal coming back,” Zeppa said. “There’s still so much to do and a lot of follow-up appointments, but we’re just trying to settle back into things.”

For Greywolf PTA president Dede Bessey, getting involved with the benefit concert was the “perfect opportunity” to positively impact a local student and his family, she said. Although the Greywolf PTA as a whole cannot participate in anything that doesn’t benefit all the school’s students, individuals of the Greywolf PTA decided to volunteer their time.

“This is a chance to be involved with something to help children, which is exactly why I got involved with the Greywolf PTA,” Bessey said.

Consistent with the ongoing community support since Drew’s diagnosis, the benefit concert is one of many things from cards and banners to gift cards and visits, that have helped the family maintain their optimism, Zeppa said.

“The community has just been amazing,” he said. “It’s been completely overwhelming.”