HAMBURG, N.Y. (WKBW) — A group of friends organized a porch concert, not just for their neighbors to enjoy some music, but for a dear friend going through a rough time.
"We're raising money for Terry Reese, who has recently been diagnosed with stage three lymphoma," said Melanie Klaja, who helped organize the porch concert.
They called it Concert for a Champ.
"Last week, I found out that a good friends and basketball teammate of mine had cancer," said Ryan Stang. " [He's] one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. You know, loving husband, amazing father and all around just genuine person."
"He's the big man of the team so everybody can always rely on him, he's always got everybody's back," said Klaja.
And this group of friends isn't letting the coronavirus stop them from having their friend's back.
Stang said he'd typically put on a huge event to raise money for his friend. But given the pandemic, he and Melanie got a bunch of their musical friends together, and put on this concert right on their porch.
"Melanie texted me the other day and said that they're going to do this benefit for their friend. And they're always doing good things for the community around here so I wanted to be involved," said Evan Thompson. He was the first out of five acts to perform.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay for medical expenses.
"He's Always been strong on the court, and now he has to be strong off the court and we're going to be behind him the entire way," said Stang.
