Benefit planned for local man

SANDPOINT — Family and friends are rallying around a local man as he battles colon cancer.

Among those efforts is a Saturday benefit for Jack Laude, being held behind the Hoot Owl Cafe in Ponderay. The benefit begins at 2 p.m. with a silent auction. A dinner catered by the Hoot Owl will be held at 4 p.m. with barbecue pork and all of the fixings. A live auction will follow at 5 p.m.

All proceeds will go to Laude to help in his fight against cancer.

"Laude is a generational local who dealt the unlucky C-card," Shianna Laude told the Daily Bee.

Laude is undergoing surgery today, June 20, and he is expected to be out of work for several weeks. The sole income provider in his household, the Bonner County man has already missed several weeks of work while getting chemo treatments.

"To know Jack is to love him," daughter Shianna Laude said. "He would give the shirt off his back to help a neighbor. He has raised kids that don't belong to him, housed people who desperately needed it, and all around has been a huge pillar of our community, maybe if you don't even realize it."

Shianna Laude invited the community to attend the benefit.

While organizers are hoping for sunny skies, plenty of tents will be on hand with plenty of chairs being loaned from a church. In the event of rain, food will be served inside the Hoot Owl.

On a Facebook page listing the dozens of items donated for the benefit, Shianna Laude said her father had asked the family to set up a video chat so that he could visit with those attending.

For information, go online to bit.ly/4kPFKOZ.