For this year’s 4th of July parade, the honorary Grand Marshal position will be held by several local community members who have dedicated their time to a worthy cause – The Broadus Cancer Fund. The Grand Marshals will be Dave Gardner and Pat Gardner (posthumously), Tyler Gardner, and Kelli Gardner. With the Chamber’s theme this year being “A Celebration Of Community”, the Gardner family fit the bill for Grand Marshal duties through their work setting up and continuing the Broadus Cancer Fund.
The Fund was initially established over twenty years ago, in order to help local community members battling cancer to by providing travel expenses to and from treatment. In the initial year of funding, Dave Gardner tells us that $50 was given out per family. That number has now ballooned to $1,500 per family.
The Broadus Cancer Fund relies on several fundraising methods. First and foremost is the Scamble 4 A Cure Golf Tournament; now in its 20th year of raising funds through teams playing the links at Rolling Hills Golf Course in Broadus. In 2004, the first year of the tournament, the tournament grossed $5,000. In its 19th year, in August of 2023, the tournament grossed $30,000.
In speaking with Dave, he commented: “The tournament is a celebration of community and being together.”
$254,000 has been raised in the twenty years of the program. Since August of 2023, eighteen local families have received $1,500 checks, or $27,000 in the past 11 months.
Other methods of fundraising include the annual daffodil sales, as well as the bake sale held on the 4th of July. Memorial money from those who have passed also helps to raise funds for the program.
We spoke with Dave, who told us the impetus behind the Cancer Fund was his wife Pat; the fund was created in her honor by the family after her own battle with cancer. Tyler, son of Dave and Pat, then took up the cause, helping to organize the golf tournament and carry on the torch after his mother passed in the spring of 2024. Over the years, all three of the couples’ sons – Josh, Tyler, and Todd, worked with Pat to ensure the program’s success, along with a number of other members of the community helping along the way.
Dave was quick to emphasize that the Gardners were not the only local family supporting the Broadus Cancer Fund, noting that the organization truly is a community cause from start to finish - from the multitude of community members running the program, to the local recipients who are able to use the funds.
Dave commented: “It really is all about community.”
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