MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — One of Milledgeville’s most popular restaurants is raising money for local cancer patients. 

As customers have filtered in to The Brick’s vast downtown dining room in recent weeks, many have been surprised to see dozens of pairs of bras looking down on them from inside. Decorated with all manner of paint, cutout images, and household objects painstakingly glued, the more than two dozen bras are not there simply for decoration. The bras represent submissions from local people, organizations, and businesses to Bras for a Cause, a national month-long event raising money for cancer patients.

“Basically, what we do is to try and get the community involved to decorate a bra and bring it in with whatever [decorations] they want to do,” said Brick General Manager Patrick Kay. “Any individuals that work here or that just want to bring one in, they’ll decorate them and we number them when they come in and hang them up. Everybody votes on their favorite for $1, and there’s no maximum on how many times you can vote. Whatever money we make on it at the end, the Brick will match and donate all the money back.”

For the past few Octobers, The Brick has hosted Bras for a Cause to help benefit cancer patients and their families. Brought to The Brick originally by former GM Destin Saunders, the restaurant has given the last two years’ donations to the local group Georgia Cancer Support. A Christian organization serving people around Baldwin and its surrounding counties, GCS provides local patients with food, spiritual counsel, and financial support in their battle with the disease. 

“Destin’s mom was with a cancer survivor group called Faith, Hope and Love, and our founder, Robbie White, was a part of that group as well,” said GCS volunteer Tamara Wilkinson-Siragusa. “As Robbie was going through her cancer treatment, she saw the dire financial situation that some people in chemotherapy were in. She started talking to them and finding out that they couldn’t pay their bills, they had lost their jobs because they were too sick to work, they had no food, and some of them couldn’t even digest regular food and were living off of milkshakes, smoothies, and things like that. Robbie started giving out of her own pocket, and once she began to see how massive the need was, she created our nonprofit, Georgia Cancer Support.”

Since the first day of October, Brick patrons have been paying $1 to vote for their favorite bras displayed on the wall. The garments feature everything from Tim McGraw’s face (styled as his apparent alter-ego, Tim McBra) to Wonder Woman to glow-in-the-dark paint, and the result is a dining room quite unlike any other in Milledgeville. At the end of this month, the bra with the most votes will be donned by Brick owner Frank Pendergast and his staff in an effort to inject some silliness into a very serious disease. 

“We’ll go the way to the end of the month just so we get a full 31 days of everybody voting, and that way we’ll get the most money we can for the cause,” said Kay. “I looked at the jar this morning and haven’t counted it yet, but it’s definitely fuller than it was yesterday morning. I know people have been taking pictures, and we had some ladies that other day that said they would wear one of the bras to work because they thought it was neat-looking. They’re getting recognized, and some of them are really creative, so I think it’s a good thing.”

 

In matching their customers’ donations to Georgia Cancer Support, The Brick will indirectly help roughly 75 local patients whose incomes are below the organization’s aid threshold. Kay said that although he was glad to be helping such a worthy local cause, he wished he and his staff could do more to help patients through their disease. Although the eatery’s donation will be limited by the number of votes the community casts, Wilkinson-Siragusa said GCS is grateful for any donation, no matter how small.

“With as many bras as they have, it will probably raise a decent amount, and with The Brick matching it, I’m sure it will be something very good,” she said. “We’re filled with gratitude and appreciation that The Brick is taking money that they could be putting into Susan G. Komen or any number of other national resource banks and decided to give it locally. This money will go directly to local cancer patients in order to help them survive.”

Bras for a Cause is accepting donations at The Brick downtown from now until the end of the month. Anyone wishing to submit a bra can do so at any time free of charge. Anyone wishing to volunteer with Georgia Cancer Support may call Debra Blackshear at 478-986-0353.