Night at the Races Event Will Benefit Local Cancer Patients

For the first time in three years, the Bob Perks Cancer Assistance Fund is bringing back its popular fundraising event Night at the Races. The event will take place at 7 p.m. on July 30 at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 867 Grays Woods Boulevard, Port Matilda.

The event revolves around a series of 10 real horse races shown on video screens and called by a professional announcer. Guests are invited to purchase and name their own horse for $25; winning horses win $50.

According to Doreen Perks, founder of the Bob Perks Fund, the naming is where the fun really begins.

“People give their horses the funniest names,” said Perks. “The announcer calls the whole race with the names that you made up, like ‘Anita Cocktail.’ It’s really funny.”

Perks said they strive to recreate the same atmosphere one might find at an actual racetrack.

“Before a race, you can go up to the windows, just like at a racetrack, and you place your bets. You can bet $2 or you can bet $20, and you win based on the odds,” she said. “You win real cash.”

The event costs $40 to attend and includes dinner donated by the State College American Legion, as well as beer and wine. Tables of six to 10 people can be reserved.

The evening also includes a derby hat contest, a small silent auction, and a “grab and go” gift card event, in which participants can buy local business gift cards for face value.

“It’s just a really fun event, and it’s been successful for us. We made over $20,000 the first time we did it, and we had people saying, ‘This was so much fun. You should run one of these every month,’” Perks said.

This year, there will be two Night at the Races events — the July 30 one and another one in Mifflin County in October. Since the pandemic precluded the event from happening at all in 2020 and 2021, Perks said it is crucial for people to come out and support these events.

Along with the annual “Rock the 80s” event in February, the fundraising events are what allow the Bob Perks Fund to fulfill its mission: “to ease the financial burden of local cancer patients and their families who often face the huge burden of unpaid bills while undergoing treatment.” Perks founded the fund in 2006 after losing her husband, Bob Perks, to melanoma. Since then, the fund has distributed more than $2 million to help cover basic living expenses — things like rent, utilities and grocery bills — for thousands of cancer patients living in Blair, Centre, Clearfield, Huntingdon, Juniata and Mifflin counties.

For more information or to purchase tickets for Night at the Races, visit www.bobperksfund.org. Ticket sales will be limited to 160 people.

This story appears in the July 14-20 edition of The Centre County Gazette.