By Garrett Estrada
Ely Times Staff Writer
Ely resident Monte Robinson was celebrated at a benefit dinner and auction on Saturday at the Bristlecone Convention Center. Crowds of people showed up to show their support for Robinson, who has been suffering from small cell lung cancer since September of 2013.
Event organizer Hailey Ruesch said they were able to raise $14,803 to be deposited in a benefit account for Robinson that will help him and his family pay for medical bills, travel expenses and more.
“I thought it went fantastic,” Ruesch said. “I can’t believe how many people came out to help. We raised a lot of money but what really helped was Monte seeing how many people came out to support him, that really raised his spirits.”
The benefit included a $25 catered dinner from the Copper Queen Hotel as well as live music, raffles and even an auction. Items like hunting rifles, paintings and mining memorabilia were sold to the highest bidder.
Robinson will spend the next two weeks at the Huntsman Cancer Center in Salt Lake City receiving chemotherapy and other treatments to help fight the cancer that has spread to his spine, brain and internal organs.
Shane Bybee and Kevin Robinson talk with Monte Robinson at a benefit dinner they helped organize to raise money for Robinson’s medical expenses.
Garrett Estrada Photo
I wanted to thank the Ely Times for all of your help with our efforts to help Monte through this difficult time. However, I need to make one correction. The dinner was not provided by the Copper Queen but was a collaborative effort between most of the fine restaurants in our town as well as several private parties and a completely volunteer crew. We had generous donations from The Hotel Nevada, Anderson’s Foodtown, Silver State Restaurant, La Fiesta, Margarita’s, Ridley’s, Jerry and Lucille Robison, Rick and Christina Rimington and I’m sure several more that have slipped my wandering mind. All of this was just delicious food donations that helped make for a great night, almost all of our local businesses also donated gift certifictes and other prizes for the auction and raffle. I plan on having a letter to the editor with all of those names included in next weeks paper. Again, I want to thank the times and everyone listed here for putting together such a great event for an even greater guy!!