THROOP - When Jenny Stairs began to plan a benefit for her friend Jim Barnes, who had recently been treated for cancer, she had no idea the amount of support she would receive from the community.

On a trip to a local golf course to make arrangements for donations, she accidentally pulled into the wrong driveway. A worker from the restaurant asked her what she was looking for. Even though she was at the restaurant next door, he still asked if there was anything he could do to help her, Stairs said.

“I told him that we were doing this benefit for my friend who was very sick,” she said. “He asked what was on the menu and said, 'Put me down for the salad.'”

From knocking on doors and asking for money from strangers, to approaching businesses to try and get donations, a team of friends and family worked hard to make the benefit dinner and raffles a success, Stairs said. “Planning has been all about coming together, strangers, friends and family, which is what I think humanity should be all about,” she said.

The goal of the day was to raise $10,000 to $15,000 to help defray the costs of multiple stem cell transplants and continuing tests that the Barnes family struggles to pay, Pam Weston, another of the events organizers, said.

“We've had at least 120 people here already,” Weston said around 3:30 p.m. With more than four hours left for the event, the hope is that we will exceed our goals, she said.

The support especially touched Jim and Ann Marie Barnes who were shocked at how many people from the community contributed through either planning or attending the event.

“I didn't expect ...,” Jim said, unable to find the words to express exactly how touched he was.

“We're overwhelmed,” his wife finished. “You don't even realize how generous people are. It's almost surreal,” she said as she started to cry.

Jim spent nine weeks in the hospital over several months before he received the call in the Chicago airport that he was in remission. “What are you to do? There are all these people in the airport and I'm just bubbling, but there is no one to talk to. That was a good day,” he said.

While Jim speaks of the struggles he went through during his time at the hospital, he still smiles while he looks over the crowds of people laughing and eating dinner.

“There are people here I haven't seen in a long time, friends and people I don't even know,” he said. “It's just unbelievable.”