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STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART

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By JEFF SCULLIN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 12, 2008

DADE CITY - Hang around a small town long enough, and people will open their hearts to you.

Especially when you're serving up drinks at their favorite watering hole.
Lottie Smith learned that Saturday, when she walked into the Happy Dayz Lounge on U.S. 301, where her two daughters have tended bar for years.

A benefit dinner and auction were in full swing - all for Smith, 59, who is dealing with the physical and financial strain of breast cancer while raising four grandchildren.

"I just think it's great that a small town will come together when someone needs help and do whatever they can to help, even when they don't know that person," said Smith's daughter, Kim McCall, who has worked at Happy Dayz for about nine years.

The day started with a poker run, with seven riders making stops at bars in Dade City, San Antonio and Zephyrhills. They picked up a card in each of five stops, swapping stories and throwing back a few along the way. The person with the best hand when the riders rolled back into the Happy Dayz parking lot won, and the entry fees went toward the cause.

Between the poker run and the dinner and auction, about $2,000 was raised, said Charles Wills, who helped organized the benefit and runs the weekend karaoke at Happy Dayz.

"It costs a lot of money to fight cancer," he said. "It's a sad fact of life, but there it is. We just want to help."

After seeing her breast cancer go into remission a couple of years ago, Smith - who's been in Dade City for 20 years and used to tend bar here herself - found a lump in September. She underwent a partial mastectomy, then started chemotherapy and radiation treatments, which she completed this month. The radiation was aggressive and expensive: five days a week for seven weeks.

Smith, who works part-time at Ivy Cottage Antiques downtown, hasn't been able to work much since October. And even with insurance, between co-payments for the radiation treatments and her surgery, Smith's medical bills added up. She still owes $4,000 or $5,000, her daughter guessed.

When one of her mom's neighbors saw that Happy Daze was hosting a poker run benefit for someone else, she suggested doing it for Smith, McCall said. The two sisters worked with their mom's neighbor, Dan Smith from Smitty's Smokehouse, which provided the food for Saturday's dinner, and co-workers from Happy Daze to make it happen. They put up a collection jar at the bar, distributed fliers to local businesses and passed the word.

People responded. Businesses kicked in items for the auction. Teachers from Centennial Middle, where two of Smith's grandchildren go to school, said they'd come to the dinner, as did parents from the baseball leagues McCall's son and nephew play in.

That kind of support is typical of Dade City's bar scene, McCall said. When regulars or someone they love are in need, people want to help.

Jeff Scullin can be reached at (813) 779-4614 or jscullin

@tampatrib.com.

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